BT SCAM BEWARE!!!

recentley a customer explained about a BT Scam being used to con people out of money, here is a typical phone call from the Scammers:

Scammer: Hi I am calling from BT you have an oustanding amount on your bill that needs to be paid now so to avoid disconnection.

Customer: I'm sorry I don't owe BT anything and anyway I am on Virgin media.

Scammer: Well Virgin do have to pay BT for lines etc so the bill still has to be paid or your services will be disconnected.

Customer: I'm sorry I don't believe you are from BT, can you prove it.

Scammer: Ok Put your handset down and I will dom a temporary disconnection after 10 seconds try to make a call, the customer agrees to try this and low and beholkd the customer cannot make a call as the line seems dead.

At this point the customer pays the bill via credit/debit card and the line stays on.

The facts

Firstly, The major telecom companies would send you a bill first and most certainly would not do a temporary disconnection to prove who they are.

Secondly: When the customer puts the phone down the scammer stays on the line with 'Mute' button pressed, this gives the customer the impression that the line is disconnected. The Scammer simply calls you back after this interval. Simples.

Don't get caught out, if in doubt tell the person you will call them back on the official BT or Virgin number, even if the Caller ID on your phone looks like a BT number you must doubt it as it is very easy to spoof a number.

If you are a voip customer who has recieved tghe Scammer call then please let us know with as much detail as possible such as Caller ID, time and Date of Call, we will then attempt an origination trace to find the true origins of the caller. This is only available to RealityVoip customers