DON’T press ‘1’
Want to foil scammers who say your internet is about to be cut off?
BROADBAND customers are being warned to be on their guard against a new scam designed to panic them by claiming there is a problem with their internet service.
Customers who take the wrong action can be tricked out of serious sums of money.
Fraudsters are using two main ploys to catch out householders.
TRICK 1: THE BOGUS WARNING MESSAGE
THE first ploy is to send an auto- mated message to a household’s landline.
This urgent message is seemingly from the home’s internet provider or even the telecoms regulator Ofcom, telling householders their broadband connection is about to be cut off.
They are told to ‘press 1’ on their phone keypad to speak to customer services. But what they are not told is that customer services is, in fact, fraudsters posing as their internet service provider.
A sham employee then sneakily puts time pressure on the customer asking them to act speedily to avoid being disconnected.
The impersonator then goes on to use ‘social engineering’ methods to extract personal details, usually telling the householder that this is necessary to stop their internet from being cut off.
Some conmen take this information and use it to commit fraud later. Others hook in victims immediately by encouraging them to sign on to their computer to check their internet connection is working.
This is when the scammers begin the serious work of taking control of the computer remotely. With a few more crafty questions they are able to drain a bank account.
Similar scams – where callers pretend to be the police, from a utility company or Government department – cost victims £37 million in the first half of last year, according to banking trade association UK Finance.
Some fraudsters turn into blackmailers. They freeze a computer from afar and then demand a fee to unlock it.
TRICK 2: THE PREMIUM RATE CALLBACK
THE second broadband ruse is where scammers leave a voicemail informing the recipient of snags with their phone or broadband service and urging them to call back immediately to discuss the pressing issue.
But this results in victims being connected to a high-cost premium number where they will be kept hanging on the line – the charge for which will later appear on their phone bill.
Such premium numbers can cost up to £3.60 a minute – so £36 for a tenminute call. This is in addition to a landline provider’s usual ‘ access charge’ of perhaps 15p a minute.
Callers who see a suspicious charge and number on their bill should contact their telecoms operator immediately and query it.
The number – and more importantly the company behind it – can be checked at the website of the Phone-paid Services Authority (psauthority.org.uk) which regulates the market.
If the company is legitimate, house-
holders will need to contact the firm directly to query the bill. If it turns out to be a scam, you should log a complaint with the PSA which can fine and shut down firms in breach of its code of conduct.
A spokesman for industry watchdog Ofcom says: ‘Customers should never hand over personal details or press a button to continue a call.’
David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, says: ‘The only sure way to avoid falling for such scams is to slam down the phone.’
He would like to see more action from broadband providers to protect customers.
He adds: ‘We are concerned that whilst any organisation the general public deals with takes great care to verify who we are when we call them, there is no easy way of doing the same when they call us.
‘For this reason, we urge organisations to come up with a clear policy on how they may approach us by telephone.
‘The principle should be to ensure that no genuine telephone call is unexpected or unverifiable. This should help in preventing us being scammed.’
BT says customers should always be wary of any call arriving out of the blue.
It adds: ‘Even if someone quotes your account number, if the call wasn’t one you were expecting, then you shouldn’t trust them with personal information.’
Another tip is to hang up and then call the genuine customer service number of the company that is apparently asking for access to your computer or your personal information. A call from BT about a bill will usually be from either 0800 328 9393 or 0800 028 5085.
No broadband provider will ever call a customer to ask for remote access to their computer or ask for bank details, especially from an unknown number.
Victims of this ‘ Press 1’ scam should alert Action Fraud, the national reporting centre that collects data on such crimes. Visit actionfraud.police.uk
Sehra Choudhry, from Greater Manchester, had a close shave last week when she received a rare call to her landline.
The 46-year-old mother of three says: ‘When I answered there was an automated message telling me our BT broadband was about to be cut off and that I needed to press 1 to stop this happening – or 2 to speak to someone.
‘I was worried as like all families we depend on the internet. The only reason I hung up is that my husband is the account holder and that normally BT will only talk to him.’
Sehra immediately rang husband Ash as she was worried their broadband would be cancelled. She says: ‘Fortunately, he was suspicious this wasn’t a genuine call so we didn’t take it any further.
‘But now I’m nervous about picking up the phone in case it is someone trying to scam me.’