OT: Latest Scam
Discussion
Just got this from our lawyer, thought you chaps/chapesses should be aware:
Matt.
>>> Edited by plotloss on Wednesday 31st July 16:51
quote:
Increasingly the Secretariat have been getting requests from managers to deal with threats from telemarketing companies chasing for payment of unwanted goods or services (typically publications, handbooks or software) and threatening legal action for non-payment.
These businesses have invested a considerable amount of time to set up a pro-forma process, an audit trail of communication and correspondence to trap unwary and busy managers into ordering goods that are unwanted. These measures are carefully designed to support a "bona fide" legal action for debt recovery (in many cases calling companies' bluff to pay up, and in other cases successfully utilising the legal process).
They work as follows:
1) Phone prospects and get them to ask to see goods - thus goods will not be "unsolicited" and they have overcome hurdle no 1.
2) The salesman makes a note confirming that all legal requirements have been met. You do not. In legal proceedings a written record over memory will usually prevail. Great care should be taken not to accuse them of sharp practice as this may then get recorded and noted, to be regurgitated under a libel or slander accusation at a later date.
3)The goods are sent recorded delivery & signed for by some one in the business, so even if they don't reach your desk you cannot deny we received them.
4) The goods come with statements of terms which say you must return them by a specified date, but these are often ignored due to pressures of work.
5) The goods either turn out to be a great deal less impressive than expected or unwanted.
6) Even if you do return it on time it should go recorded delivery to prove dispatch.
7) Then the threatening letters start followed in many cases by initial proceedings, backed by pre-established claims particulars which have been designed to fit into the audit trail already carefully established.
Whilst unscrupulous in nature and often chased by the DTI and Trading standards officers, many such organisations will successfully utilise the court process against unsuspecting businesses, who are not so protected against unsolicited marketing as consumers.
Matt.
>>> Edited by plotloss on Wednesday 31st July 16:51
Has anyone had that thing through the post supposedly offering to register you under the Data Protection Act? Thing is, you have to send a cheque for £100plus to some kind of address and they will actually register you – but the ffee is less than they are asking and they cream off the difference.
Probably not illegal at all but they were featured in the Sunday Expresses Financial section a couple of months ago with readers warned to stay clear.
think the company was registered in Spain or Gibraltar and the address given was just a mailing address ie a lot of letters behind someone grubby net curtains.
>> Edited by MikeyT on Wednesday 31st July 18:09
Probably not illegal at all but they were featured in the Sunday Expresses Financial section a couple of months ago with readers warned to stay clear.
think the company was registered in Spain or Gibraltar and the address given was just a mailing address ie a lot of letters behind someone grubby net curtains.
>> Edited by MikeyT on Wednesday 31st July 18:09
Heard of another scam last week. Sent to me via email as follows:-
There have been at least 5 incidents like this reported in the Luton area.
There is a knock on your door. On your doorstep is a very distressed (pregnant at times) female. She asks if she can come in to use your 'phone as she has had an accident/ car has broken down, and she wants to call her husband.
You stand next to her as she dials the number and you hear her ask for her husband. There is a delay as apparently her husband has to be fetched from a meeting. After a couple of minutes you hear her tell him what has happened and she asks him to come and collect her.
She puts the 'phone down, total call time 5 minutes, thanks you and offers you £1 for the use of the 'phone.
The catch is that some days before she has set up her own premium rate telephone line at a cost to her of £150 and then set the rate at £50 per minute, and that's the number she has dialled from your 'phone.
Her "conversation" has cost you £250 and you only discover this when your telephone bill arrives.
Has she committed an offence? you have given her permission to use your 'phone. YOU have been warned.
If someone arrives on your doorstep stating they have a problem offer to call thepolice for them and close the door while you do so. Perhaps you suggest that they return to their vehicle etc.
There have been at least 5 incidents like this reported in the Luton area.
There is a knock on your door. On your doorstep is a very distressed (pregnant at times) female. She asks if she can come in to use your 'phone as she has had an accident/ car has broken down, and she wants to call her husband.
You stand next to her as she dials the number and you hear her ask for her husband. There is a delay as apparently her husband has to be fetched from a meeting. After a couple of minutes you hear her tell him what has happened and she asks him to come and collect her.
She puts the 'phone down, total call time 5 minutes, thanks you and offers you £1 for the use of the 'phone.
The catch is that some days before she has set up her own premium rate telephone line at a cost to her of £150 and then set the rate at £50 per minute, and that's the number she has dialled from your 'phone.
Her "conversation" has cost you £250 and you only discover this when your telephone bill arrives.
Has she committed an offence? you have given her permission to use your 'phone. YOU have been warned.
If someone arrives on your doorstep stating they have a problem offer to call thepolice for them and close the door while you do so. Perhaps you suggest that they return to their vehicle etc.
quote:
Heard of another scam last week. Sent to me via email as follows:-
There have been at least 5 incidents like this reported in the Luton area.
There is a knock on your door. On your doorstep is a very distressed (pregnant at times) female. She asks if she can come in to use your 'phone as she has had an accident/ car has broken down, and she wants to call her husband.
You stand next to her as she dials the number and you hear her ask for her husband. There is a delay as apparently her husband has to be fetched from a meeting. After a couple of minutes you hear her tell him what has happened and she asks him to come and collect her.
She puts the 'phone down, total call time 5 minutes, thanks you and offers you £1 for the use of the 'phone.
The catch is that some days before she has set up her own premium rate telephone line at a cost to her of £150 and then set the rate at £50 per minute, and that's the number she has dialled from your 'phone.
Her "conversation" has cost you £250 and you only discover this when your telephone bill arrives.
Has she committed an offence? you have given her permission to use your 'phone. YOU have been warned.
If someone arrives on your doorstep stating they have a problem offer to call thepolice for them and close the door while you do so. Perhaps you suggest that they return to their vehicle etc.
I've not heard quite that amount but this scam has been operating in certain formats for a very long time. It started as an 0898 sex line scam when they first appeared. People would slip backhanders to security guards at bonded warehouses whose phone bills regulary get exceptionally high anyway.
Then the operator would collect on the phone that had been off the hook for some time and the guard would have supplemented his wages with a nice bit of folding money.
Everyones a winner!
Matt.
It's 100% genuine Ted one of my managers who lives in Sittingbourne in Kent had a flyer produced by the local community bobby put through the door warning of exactly this and giving the £50/min rate, apparently they were "active" in his area. If he's still got it I'll get it scanned and posted.
The same bloke actually must attract this kind of shit as he also had a "quality manual" (about half a dozen pages of A4) arrive recorded at the office to be billed at £300 plus if not returned in 14 days needless to say it went back pronto recorded delivery.
The same bloke actually must attract this kind of shit as he also had a "quality manual" (about half a dozen pages of A4) arrive recorded at the office to be billed at £300 plus if not returned in 14 days needless to say it went back pronto recorded delivery.
Not quite an outright con but has anyone had bogus calls from shady American 'stockbrokers' aka 'chop shops', complimenting you on your portfolio of NASDAQ holdings?
These guys are slimeburgers of the finest order and it's always nice to remind them that you saw 'Boiler Room' (effectively, Wall Street Part II) and that they can always discuss their grotty recommendations with your existing broker - they usually burble something about 'f-ing limey' and then slam the phone down! Superb!
These guys are slimeburgers of the finest order and it's always nice to remind them that you saw 'Boiler Room' (effectively, Wall Street Part II) and that they can always discuss their grotty recommendations with your existing broker - they usually burble something about 'f-ing limey' and then slam the phone down! Superb!
Nah, the phone one's a complete hoax - read all about it here:
www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/phone.htm
It's always worth a quick search of snopes.com if you receive anything via email that sounds remotely improbable...
I bet whoever made this one up is having a right old laugh at the thought of the police going round handing out flyers about it
www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/phone.htm
It's always worth a quick search of snopes.com if you receive anything via email that sounds remotely improbable...
I bet whoever made this one up is having a right old laugh at the thought of the police going round handing out flyers about it
off. 
offering tickets to a cinema screening in Bristol, I live in Nottingham quote:Might be a hoax, but it doesn't mean some enterprising scally isn't going to have a go at it..
Nah, the phone one's a complete hoax - read all about it here:
www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/phone.htm
Set up an 0906 number - they can carry any call-cost you like.. you'll see ones for a couple of quid a minute advertised on TV.. Do 2 houses an hour for 5 minutes a time and you've got upward of a couple of hundred quid a day...
There's also a SMS service now, horoscopes and such like shit where the charge per SMS message is in pounds not pennies.. and you've no immediate control over how many you're sent.
quote:
Her "conversation" has cost you £250 and you only discover this when your telephone bill arrives.
Has she committed an offence? you have given her permission to use your 'phone. YOU have been warned.
With regard to this particular scam, even though the person was invited inot your house to use the phone by you, had you known the real reason for the request to be allowed into the house, you would have said 'NO'.
There is a stated case on this type of offence and this fits quite nicely into the offence of Burglary.
It also is a criminal deception under the Theft Act.
Plenty of legislatio to deal with the offender and an easyish route to find the culprit by the use of subscriber checks. Not the most ingenious of deceptions by any means. Just bloody annoying if you get caught.
quote:
Just got this from our lawyer, thought you chaps/chapesses should be aware:
quote:
Increasingly the Secretariat have been getting requests from managers to deal with threats from telemarketing companies chasing for payment of unwanted goods or services (typically publications, handbooks or software) and threatening legal action for non-payment.
These businesses have invested a considerable amount of time to set up a pro-forma process, an audit trail of communication and correspondence to trap unwary and busy managers into ordering goods that are unwanted. These measures are carefully designed to support a "bona fide" legal action for debt recovery (in many cases calling companies' bluff to pay up, and in other cases successfully utilising the legal process).
They work as follows:
1) Phone prospects and get them to ask to see goods - thus goods will not be "unsolicited" and they have overcome hurdle no 1.
2) The salesman makes a note confirming that all legal requirements have been met. You do not. In legal proceedings a written record over memory will usually prevail. Great care should be taken not to accuse them of sharp practice as this may then get recorded and noted, to be regurgitated under a libel or slander accusation at a later date.
3)The goods are sent recorded delivery & signed for by some one in the business, so even if they don't reach your desk you cannot deny we received them.
4) The goods come with statements of terms which say you must return them by a specified date, but these are often ignored due to pressures of work.
5) The goods either turn out to be a great deal less impressive than expected or unwanted.
6) Even if you do return it on time it should go recorded delivery to prove dispatch.
7) Then the threatening letters start followed in many cases by initial proceedings, backed by pre-established claims particulars which have been designed to fit into the audit trail already carefully established.
Whilst unscrupulous in nature and often chased by the DTI and Trading standards officers, many such organisations will successfully utilise the court process against unsuspecting businesses, who are not so protected against unsolicited marketing as consumers.
Matt.
>>> Edited by plotloss on Wednesday 31st July 16:51
SORRY BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE ANY HIGH STREET BANK TO ME.SO WHY THE COMPLETE SURPRISE WHEN SOMEONE TRIES TO MAKE A LIVING
If you want less junk mail etc, go to
www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsR/html/Register.asp
- The "Mailing Preference Service" - it's free and stopped nearly all my junk mail.
-Mat
www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsR/html/Register.asp
- The "Mailing Preference Service" - it's free and stopped nearly all my junk mail.
-Mat
quote:
If you want less junk mail etc, go to
www.tpsonline.org.uk/mpsR/html/Register.asp
- The "Mailing Preference Service" - it's free and stopped nearly all my junk mail.
-Mat
after getting 15 bits of junk mail this morning i've just registered.... I hope thats not a scam too
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