PLEASE be aware of a telephone scam that has re-emerged over recent days.

I’ve just had a call purporting to be from my bank informing me of a “recent High Court judgement” forcing banks to repay charges and asking for my debit card details so they can credit my account. There has been no such judgement and the scammers are simply after your debit card details so they can drain your account.

Funnily enough, when I informed the caller that he was speaking to the editor of this site and asked for a comment for our readers, he hung up!

NEVER give your card details to anyone who calls you claiming to represent your bank or anyone else. If you think there may be a genuine reason for them asking, call the customer service number printed on your statement. Be careful out there….

I just got off the phone with a scammer. Yes, another one.

What were they trying to sell me?

The call came from a young lady who identified herself as a “registrar for the internet”. She told me that a rival company had tried to register ten domain names, which were all similar to my domain and company name.

A matter of principle

Her script was well crafted to instil panic. She’d apparently received the registration request and had “smelled a rat” because she recognised my brand. “As a matter of principle” she’d decided to take it upon herself to call me and offer me the opportunity to register these domains to stop the rival firm from hijacking my brand name and passing themselves off as me. I could register the ten (.co.uk) domain names for 10 years to secure them long term for only £1,000 + VAT. All she needed was my credit card number and she’d put it in place straight away.

What’s the scam?

Most of us are fiercely protective of our brand. We’ll go to great lengths to protect it and the suggestion that someone else is trying to use our brand name to promote a rival business is enough to throw us into a flat spin panic. The scammers know this, and that’s the hook that they use for this scam. The truth is that nobody tried to register these domains, and the scammer is simply trying to sell them to you at over-inflated prices (around 300% above market value) for a period that they simply can’t offer.

Key points to remember:

• Domain name registration is an automated process. You choose your domains, pay for them and that’s it, they’re registered.
• Domain name registrars do not take responsibility for ensuring that the registrant has the right to use the brand name they are registering. If the domain is available, they’ll sell it. Under no circumstances would a sales agent for a registrar offer to sell those domains to someone else to block your registration – it would be unethical and possibly consititutes a breach of data protection legislation.
• The going rate for a .co.uk domain is around £3.00 + VAT a year and you can only register it for 2 years at a time. There’s no way to register it for longer than that.

If you get a call or an email with a similar story, hang up or hit “delete”!

We’re receiving reports of a number of different “cold calling” telephone scams which are doing the rounds right now.

In one, telephone users have been contacted by a “representative of BT” demanding payment of an outstanding balance to avoid having their service cut off. The caller then offers to prove their “bona fides” by disconnecting the line temporarily, which they appear to do, before calling back and further demanding payment.

“The man was very persistent and convincing” said a victim who wished to remain anonymous. “He said that I owed £100 and if I didn’t pay, then my line would be cut off. He said that he could prove he was from BT by temporarily disconnecting my line. He told me to hang up and then try making a call out. When I did, I couldn’t call out. No dialing tone, nothing. He then called back and took my credit card details to pay the outstanding balance.”

What actually happened was that the caller simply muted the call and let the victim hang up, ensuring that the call would not be disconnected. Only the person initiating the call can actually disconnect it, if they don’t hang up then the call remains live. When the victim then tries to make an outgoing call, they can’t, because the line is engaged.

Stop cold calls for £9 per month

In another scam, telephone users are contacted by scammers claiming to represent either BT or the Telephone Preference Service and told that they can subscribe to a service to stop sales calls for only £9 per month, payable by credit or debit card. In actuality, both BT and the TPS offer this service for free.

Points to remember:

• NEVER give your credit/debit card or bank details over the telephone unless you are making a purchase from a supplier you know and trust AND you have initiated the contact
• NEVER allow a caller to pressure you into giving them money
• ALWAYS ask anyone who calls you claiming to be collecting an outstanding debt to contact you in writing to confirm the existence of the debt before even thinking about paying them

I know this isn’t an online scam, but hey, we’re here to keep you safe from all kinds of fraudster, we’re not biased!

We’re receiving reports of bogus telephone callers, specifically in the Swindon area at the moment, but the scam is likely to spread, claiming to represent the local Council Tax office and trying to obtain bank details to either credit the account with refunds, or to check that payments are up to date.

There have even been cases of callers going to people’s houses to try and get the same information.

Swindon Borough Council have told us that they will never try and contact their council taxpayers in this way and advise residents to take the name of the caller, end the conversation and contact Swindon Borough Council on 0845 8500 962 to check if the caller is genuine.

For readers outside Swindon, we recommend a similar course of action, calling your local council to check if the caller is genuine. Do not let these people into your home, and if you feel at all threatened, call the police immediately.

Other bogus officials may include electricity & gas meter readers, water company officials and social workers. They often target elderly people and will work in pairs, so one can distract the householder whilst the other searches for valuables.

Do not let anyone into your home without ID, and verify the identity of the caller with the authority they claim to represent. Do not ring the number on their ID card, keep a list of your supplier’s telephone numbers by the phone for this purpose.

If you have elderly relatives and you are concerned for their safety, ask your local community police officer to pay them a visit and give them crime prevention advice.

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