NCFP Consumer News | Beware BT Phone Scam

NCFP Consumer News | Beware BT Phone ScamNCFP Consumer News | Beware BT Phone Scam

A reminder of an old BT scam has recently been posted on FaceBook and so it’s worth reminding our UK readers of it. BT issued this warning:

“Please be aware of the following:

Fraudsters, pretending to be from various phone companies, have been calling people on the pretence that there is an outstanding bill and threatening to disconnect their line immediately if they do not pay the bill straight away.

The fraudsters have been pretending to “cut off” the customer. Worried about having their line cut off, some people have been persuaded into giving the fraudsters their bank account details.

The police are investigating and BT Security is looking into incidents where the fraudsters have claimed to be from BT.

Whilst BT does have debt handling procedures which may involve calling customers, BT never carries out disconnections during the call by way of proof.

We advise customers never to give out any banking details over the phone unless they are absolutely certain who they are dealing with.

If there is any doubt at all, a BT employee will be able to give the customer their employee ID number and an 0800 number to call, where the customer can check that they are who they say they are. The customer can also check their identity by calling 0800 800 150 .

Beware of similar phone numbers. Fraudsters may for example offer a number which has an extra zero – 0800 0800 xxx has been used by fraudsters – it is not the same as 0800 800 xxx.

UK communications regulator OfCom has also posted a warning to consumers about the scam:

Fraudsters are currently phoning consumers claiming to be from BT or Ofcom. They claim that the consumer’s telephone line needs digital upgrade work. This, they say, will cost £6 and if it isn’t paid within 10 days the consumer’s phone line will be cut off.

In some cases, the fraudster will claim that the line needs testing and they will temporarily disconnect it. When the consumer tries to make an outgoing call they are unable to do so. This is simply because the fraudster is still on the line meaning no outbound calls can be made.

This is a scam. Ofcom and BT have alerted the relevant authorities for investigation.”

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