The Lemon Fool

Just recently I've received several calls from what superficially looks like a US number - 00127584830 - except there aren't enough digits.

It's a recorded message, saying my broadband is about to be shut down in 4 hours, and that if I want to speak to their technician I should press 1.

Needless to say, I've managed to resist temptation, but I'm intrigued as to what sort of scam it is. I've heard of ones where you are connected to a premium rate phone line, but how would you know whether this was the case? Is there any way of identifying the nature or origin of the scam simply from the phone number or the nature of the message?

Clitheroekid wrote:Needless to say, I've managed to resist temptation, but I'm intrigued as to what sort of scam it is.

I think it's an invite to pay large sums of money in exchange for installing malware on your system. It must be getting tougher in the world of dodgy call centres, if they have to resort to using automated messages. If you have time to spare, you can always bate them by pressing 1 to speak to someone. They usually claim to be from BT even where you are on another service provider as "BT provide all the infrastructure". That's half true as it's Openreach, but as anyone with a fault has discovered, Openreach are notoriously reluctant to deal with end consumers.

Usually I just add them to BTs Call blocker service on 1572.

Clitheroekid wrote:I've heard of ones where you are connected to a premium rate phone line, but how would you know whether this was the case?

That was never a real possibility, it's just a hoax scare. You could never be charged any money for a call if they called you and persuaded you to press some keys.

Scott.

Alaric wrote:Usually I just add them to BTs Call blocker service on 1572.

And therein might lie one of the challenges re the more proficient scammers. Clitheroekid said...

... I've received several calls from what superficially looks like a US number - 00127584830 - except there aren't enough digits.

As I understand it setting the CallerID number to whatever they want is pretty straightforward for a half-competent scammer and I assume that the 1572 blocking works by looking at the CallerID. That might well be the reason why CK's number looked US but wasn't quite. It's possibly not really trying to look like anything but by coincidence sometimes does. I suspect it might be updated every few days to a random or fairly carelessly chosen different number to defeat call blockers.

If these people are targetting the UK I don't know why they would deliberately choose a fake CallerID number that looked as if it was an overseas call since for most people that would probably be unusual and more likely to arouse suspicion. Personally if I were them I would be setting something like an 020 (London) as the first digits of the number, or even better 0161 since everyone knows that all Mancs are 100% honest and probably have the best hold music. (Come to think of it Joy Division's "She's lost control again" would be quite appropriate if anyone pressing "1" was crazy enough to do what the scammers asked them to do since losing control of your computer would be the likely consequence.)

- Julian (originally from Manchester)

Clitheroekid wrote:JIs there any way of identifying the nature or origin of the scam simply from the phone number or the nature of the message?

There are a number of sites but they all rely on people reporting the call.

Here are a few:
https://who-called.co.uk/ (This site has answers only a few hours old regarding your number)
https://whose-number-is-this.com/
http://uk.whocalledme.net/

I got a call from them on Saturday (woke me up). Was a UK number, but not enough digits. Began 01427....

In the past have had calls from them with a number BT could not decipher. As I have 1572 I called BT and the call centre reported it up the ladder as it seemed my 1572 service was not working as it was supposed to (ie blocking these type of calls). As of 1st October "caller id" is free for BT subscribers. Since switching it on I have recorded 15 calls with numbers I do not recognise, those that I have "not answered" have all hung-up as soon as the "voicemail" kicked in.

Miss the "jolly banter" of Eric....

Raptor.

Maroochydore wrote:

Clitheroekid wrote:JIs there any way of identifying the nature or origin of the scam simply from the phone number or the nature of the message?

There are a number of sites but they all rely on people reporting the call.

Here are a few:
https://who-called.co.uk/ (This site has answers only a few hours old regarding your number)
https://whose-number-is-this.com/
http://uk.whocalledme.net/

Helps with the yes/no question of whether the caller can be dismissed as junk, but contributions there are no more than speculation about the detailed nature of the calls. The OP's question is probably better targeted here than there.

I generally use such sites by googling the number itself. That turns up a lot of wannabe sites, just a few of which have enough traction to be likely to contain useful information: others (most) work by spamming google with numbers but no actual information[1]. The first site you list seems to be the most useful by some margin.

[1] and google is hampered in its attempts to clear out such junk by rulings from the EU commission in favour of spammers like Foundem and Kelkoo whose tactics were basically the same: google is not allowed to discriminate against content-free spam.

I've had a similar call that went to voicemail.

In my call, the automated message stated that they were calling from my ISP - not named, by the way - and that they needed to log onto my computer to change my IP address as it was associated with fraud in several countries.

Hmmnn - my ISP don't need to access my PC to change my IP address as, if it was dynamic, it would change from time to time anyway without any involvement from me!

I was then exhorted to press 1 to speak to a technician. I don't think so!

Watis

Watis wrote:Hmmnn - my ISP don't need to access my PC to change my IP address as, if it was dynamic, it would change from time to time anyway without any involvement from me!

How would they be able to associate a landline phone number with an IP address?

The false caller IDs are changed frequently so blocking a particular number will not solve the problem.

BT and other service providers have the technology to ensure that false caller ID numbers are never routed but until they are compelled to action, the scam calls continue.

Alaric wrote:Hmmnn - my ISP don't need to access my PC to change my IP address as, if it was dynamic, it would change from time to time anyway without any involvement from me!


How would they be able to associate a landline phone number with an IP address?

If it IS your ISP then they will know your landline number that their systems serve DHCP (typically) to your router.

But as pointed out above if it IS your ISP they won't need access to your PC t do that because your router will pick any changed IPs up automagically.

That could be what Alaric meant

didds

didds wrote:If it IS your ISP then they will know your landline number that their systems serve DHCP (typically) to your router.

That's an interesting point. The "Windows technical department", who are amongst other frequent callers, shouldn't know the IP Address, unless you tell them by going to their website.

supremetwo wrote:BT and other service providers have the technology to ensure that false caller ID numbers are never routed but until they are compelled to action, the scam calls continue.

Not sure they do actually. Regardless, they won't be compelled to act on this. Because for many (legitimate) companies it is essential.

Outgoing-only phone lines don't have a number. That makes them a fraction cheaper. Large outgoing call centres might have hundreds of outgoing-only lines, and only a dozen incoming ones. They HAVE to spoof the number. Because the line they are ringing you from doesn't have its own number. Of course they should spoof it to the valid number of their incoming lines. But clearly they often don't.

It is also very useful where you can dial directly in to an extension. The company exchange can give you the extension number as part of the caller ID. So you can dial back in directly to the person who called you. Different usage, but same technology.

Like so many things. It is a useful technology when used correctly. Just frequently abused.

Gryff

Among the many give-aways these callers have, one of the daftest is the recorded US voice telling me that I will need to change the IP address on my router - pronounced ROWTER (with 'row' as in argument rather then oarsmanship) - as they do in the US.

Raptor wrote:I got a call from them on Saturday (woke me up). Was a UK number, but not enough digits. Began 01427....

As of 1st October "caller id" is free for BT subscribers.

Raptor.

As of 1 Oct, caller id is free for everyone (cannot be charged for directly): it's an ofcom ruling. I'd add a url, but when I tried to post lemonfool said: "You are not approved to post links", but if you Google you should be able to find info.

supremetwo wrote:The false caller IDs are changed frequently so blocking a particular number will not solve the problem.

BT and other service providers have the technology to ensure that false caller ID numbers are never routed but until they are compelled to action, the scam calls continue.

Yes, the CLIDs do change, but there are some repeat cold callers who don't change their CLID, so 1572 does help in this instance not 1572 log proves this)

supremetwo wrote:The false caller IDs are changed frequently so blocking a particular number will not solve the problem.

BT and other service providers have the technology to ensure that false caller ID numbers are never routed but until they are compelled to action, the scam calls continue.

My mobile phone will tell me if it suspects a scam call. It's not 100% accurate (it tends to alert to all 'call centre' type calls and some of those are legit) but it is handy. That must be similar technology I'd guess.

Mel

Clitheroekid wrote:Just recently I've received several calls from what superficially looks like a US number - 00127584830 - except there aren't enough digits. It's a recorded message, saying my broadband is about to be shut down in 4 hours, and that if I want to speak to their technician I should press 1.

You're far from alone, it appears to be scammers:
http://uk.whocalledme.net/PhoneNumber/00127584830
https://who-called.co.uk/Number/00127584830 - which lists several experiences of such scam calls received in the UK from this very number right through to yesterday...

Heh. I never listen to a non-human caller long enough to hear what it's (supposed to be) about, so I haven't heard that call. And I make call-centre humans identify themselves and what it's about before I let them talk, which somehow seems to discourage many of them and leave a pretty good proportion of the calls that get past the preliminaries being real calls.

But I do get lots of email telling me my email's being cut off, which seems somewhat analogous. When it's there in the subject line, you don't have to listen to the crap before deleting it.

Tip: most call centres, you get four rings, then they stop. Humans will try longer than that. So leave it five or six rings before picking up. If it stops after the four rings, you can google the number, and block it if you find reports that are sufficiently clear and unambiguous.

UncleEbenezer wrote:Heh. I never listen to a non-human caller long enough to hear what it's (supposed to be) about, so I haven't heard that call. And I make call-centre humans identify themselves and what it's about before I let them talk, which somehow seems to discourage many of them and leave a pretty good proportion of the calls that get past the preliminaries being real calls.

But I do get lots of email telling me my email's being cut off, which seems somewhat analogous. When it's there in the subject line, you don't have to listen to the crap before deleting it.

Tip: most call centres, you get four rings, then they stop. Humans will try longer than that. So leave it five or six rings before picking up. If it stops after the four rings, you can google the number, and block it if you find reports that are sufficiently clear and unambiguous.

I won't pick up unless I know the number, or rather a name is displayed, otherwise they can leave a message and I'll call them back if I think it mattes.

Slarti