October
2009
Ofcom Reveals Telephone Line Upgrade Scam
British telecom regulatory body Ofcom has notified on its official website that a group of people posing as genuine employees of Ofcom or BT are extorting money from unsuspecting victims on the pretext of a line upgrade.
These people generally call their prospective victims and ask them to pay six pounds for digital upgrading of their lines, failing which they warn that the customers will face imminent disconnection or other serious consequences.
To convince the customers that they are serious, they deliberately block all outbound calls and ask the customers to follow their instructions. The customers easily fall into the trap, because no one really wants disruption of broadband and phone services, and there is no reason not to believe the miscreants.
Ofcom has requested all customers who have inadvertently become targets of this scam to convey any details either to them or to Consumer Direct. The official agencies plan to trace these miscreants by tracing their phone calls. All those customers who have already paid to the cheats must inform their banks and cancel their credit cards or change all bank information to reduce the risk of being duped further. Payment details of these victims will also help agencies like the nuisance bureaus to catch the criminals.
