OT: Who's on First?

Yes, I get them from virgin mobile. At least they say they are, then they ask me to give some information to confirm my identity and I won't, so they go away, then ring another day...

Who knows?

TW

NatWest credit card security will willingly advise you ring the number on the card if you want proof of their identity, and get transferred to them - which is eminently reasonable, because then one has some motivation (if one is sensible) to find out what is concerning them,.

It is usually my bank cold calling to try and sell me something. If I pick up and they ask me to confirm my ID I point out to them that they have cold called me and I don't know them from Adam. We deadlock.

I ask them to write me a letter or if it is so important to ring me back when they are prepared to prove to me that they are who they say they are. Only once did I get a call back within 5 minutes from the genuine Barclaycard fraud line who said in the opening we want to check a recent suspicious overseas transaction on your credit card ending NNNN.

Then we went through a confirm my ID process. It was a genuine fraud and they killed the card on the spot and unwound the transaction.

Mobile phone sales droids are another variant of this pest.

You still have to watch out on that one. If they phone your landline and tell you to phone back on the number on the card, if you hang up and they don't, the call remains connected (just like when you put a phone down in one room, move to another and pick up the phone to continue the call). They can play a fake dial-tone to you, so you start dialling, and they simply stop the dial-tone and "answer" the call pretending to be your bank.

Best to call with a mobile.

SteveW

Dolce & Gabbana. Expensive taste in handbags!

Yes. That was my guess. I've no idea who he's talking about.

Another Dave

This shouldn't work so well since BT reduced the time the line remains connected to two seconds:

Or call someone else first to check.

-- Richard

They normally plague you to take out an extended warranty 12 months after you've bought something from Currys ...

Thank you. I've recently bought a load of stuff from Curry's. I'll be on my guard.

Another Dave

That's very good news, which I missed.

I did wonder if they could be really clever and supply the dial tone from a PABX which forwarded one's calls, and just trapped the number they wanted?

I'd ask them what their contact number is and then ring the number in the paperwork and quote them what they said. Somebody would soon tell you if they are not who they say they are. Brian

Domestic and General. Purveyors of extended warranties.

HSBC rang me, when I wouldn't tell them anything they told me to call the number on the back of my card and quote a number they gave me.

I hadn't heard that they'd done that, but I wonder if it is everywhere? There was a TV programme that specifically covered this scam (with real cases) from just last year, which would suggest not. It also makes it harder to move to a quieter room once you've answered a call - 10 seconds would have been better from that point of view and people aren't going to get their card out, check the number and dial faster than that.

SteveW

D&G run the buses around here.