@vodafoneuk Mystery missed call on your mobile?

[AndyOrch]

Mystery missed call on your mobile? It could mean a bill for hundreds of pounds as new phone [problem] hits

 

Mobile phone regulators and operators have warned that customers are being be left with bills running to hundreds of pounds after receiving mysterious missed calls that then trigger outgoing calls to premium rate numbers lasting several hours.

 

The communications watchdog Ofcom said it was looking into cases where huge bills had been generated from calls to 0845 and 0843 numbers following missed calls to the victims that were not answered.

 

Several instances reported by the Daily Mail involved calls to claims management firms that pursue flight delay compensation. In the cases detailed by the newspaper, the premium rate calls lasted up to 12 hours and generated bills of up to £300.

 

The report said all cases seen by the newspaper involved Vodafone.

 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/mystery-missed-call-mobile-could-145434862.html?cache=clear

[Queens_king]

Most smartphones today have a blocking feature, quite simple to set up and once done the calls from blocked numbersdo not get answered even for a split second.

 

Set up properly block all numbers beginning 08, 09, 070 and international calls both in and out

 

Okay hassle if you expevt a call but i would rather block a call than get caught

 

for outgoing calls to 08 numbers search saynoo0870.com for the land line number

 

when i was living in the UK I blocked all these numbers with the exception of my wife calling from her home land

Edited April 30, 2016 by Queens_king
spelling

[darkandstormy]

Most smartphones today have a blocking feature, quite simple to set up and once done the calls from blocked numbersdo not get answered even for a split second.

 

Set up properly block all numbers beginning 08, 09, 070 and international calls both in and out

 

Okay hassle if you expevt a call but i would rather block a call than get caught

 

for outgoing calls to 08 numbers search saynoo0870.com for the land line number

 

when i was living in the UK I blocked all these numbers with the exception of my wife calling from her home land

 

Not all phones have that feature and it is down to a combination of the provider and the actual phone : some cheap phones don't have a blocking feature

[ADDLED]

Classic churnalism; quoting a Yahoo Finance story that is reporting on a Telegraph story, reporting on a story originally run by the Daily Mail, but omitting such trivial details as facts and evidence. Why not go straight to the primary source and quote that?

And I seriously doubt that a call to someone's mobile phone that goes unanswered can then generate a 12 hour call.

[Teefenn1]

Exactly what I thought, ADDLED, when I read the original story in the Daily Mail a couple of months ago.

 

 

Even the original report failed to specify how many 'victims' there were supposed to be.

 

 

I suspect it's just a handful of idiots whose curiosity induced them to call back a

nd the line was then left open at the other end after they had hung up.

Faced with a £300 bill, of course they aren't going to admit to having called back.

 

Also, consider this.

Most people theses days (myself excepted) are so obsessed with their mobile devices

that they'd rarely let an hour pass without calling somebody, let alone 12 hours,

 

 

so would be aware that something was wrong when unable to make a call.

You cannot connect to two numbers simultaneously.

[Fredsie]

Classic churnalism; quoting a Yahoo Finance story that is reporting on a Telegraph story, reporting on a story originally run by the Daily Mail, but omitting such trivial details as facts and evidence. Why not go straight to the primary source and quote that?

And I seriously doubt that a call to someone's mobile phone that goes unanswered can then generate a 12 hour call.

 

Exactly right, ADDLED. Third hand (at least!) and no real content, just a classic scare story with no useful information about what actually happened. It's a shame CAG can't do a bit of vetting of these before deciding to add themselves to what amounts to a chain letter.

[jas88]

It's a shame those 084x ripoff numbers were ever created - why, when legitimate operations have almost all moved to 03xx numbers which don't rip people off, do the 08 numbers even still work by default?!

 

If you had to specifically enable premium rate calls before those numbers were diallable - or at least had the option to opt-out of them - these [problem]s just wouldn't function.

 

I thought there was already a ban on caller ID displaying these numbers - it had to be either a normal-rate or freephone number to show up? Maybe there's a loophole there somewhere. Glad Vodafone are blocking them, at least.

[BrianSkye]

I thought only the calling party could hold the line open not the receiver of the call. That's how the [problem] works where you are invited to call a company back (using its correct number) but the line has been held open (with a fake dialing tone supplied) and you just end up talking to the [problematic] again.

[Oscar71]

Most smartphones today have a blocking feature, quite simple to set up and once done the calls from blocked numbersdo not get answered even for a split second.

 

Set up properly block all numbers beginning 08, 09, 070 and international calls both in and out

 

Okay hassle if you expevt a call but i would rather block a call than get caught

 

for outgoing calls to 08 numbers search saynoo0870.com for the land line number

 

when i was living in the UK I blocked all these numbers with the exception of my wife calling from her home land

 

 

I receive calls from my bank (0845) with regards to fraud use of cards so blanket blocking 08 numbers isn't an answer for some.

[jacktheskipper]

It's a shame those 084x ripoff numbers were ever created - why, when legitimate operations have almost all moved to 03xx numbers which don't rip people off, do the 08 numbers even still work by default?!

 

If you had to specifically enable premium rate calls before those numbers were diallable - or at least had the option to opt-out of them - these [problem]s just wouldn't function.

 

I thought there was already a ban on caller ID displaying these numbers - it had to be either a normal-rate or freephone number to show up? Maybe there's a loophole there somewhere. Glad Vodafone are blocking them, at least.

 

 

 

Absolutely correct about 08x numbers .... originally designed to confuse with 0800 Freephone numbers but were anything but "Freephone" then when 0870 numbers were exposed as the rip-off that they were...they then made a big song and dance about how they were allowing these for free .... but every company and BT simply got around this by quietly changing the number slightly to 0871 and variants. (and didn't tell anyone that these were still chargeable at the rip-off rate), and hoped the public didn't notice which in general they did not..

 

 

Outrageous that such a confidence trick should ever possibly be allowed without serious criminal charges.

 

 

But then in country where we now have seriously bent courts, bent judges, bent police, bent corporations and councils, bent governments. They have successful created a society where they have encouraged everyone to go about ripping off everyone else.

 

 

I would like to call for a complete ban on ALL premium rate numbers ... in particular ones like 118 ... that according to my telephone provider Post office phones is NOT a premium... and as I said to them "if £6 plus to a number that lasts for a few seconds isn't a premium rate number then what is?"

 

 

The reason I say 118 numbers is that you can elect to block outgoing calls the various 090 type numbers etc. but not 118 type numbers .....as I said in the my previous line if 118 variants are not premium then what are?

 

 

 

 

Characters like Simon Cowell have made 100s of millions £s by these numbers so what do BT make?... outrageous.

 

 

Just simply a goldmine for thieves, conmen, rip off merchants, unscrupulous people and organisations.

 

 

As for international premium numbers BT and the other companies need to either pay them from their profit or block the numbers. Or don't pay them ... it not down to the public to do so.

 

 

We need people like Martin Lewis the TV celebrity money expert to petition the government to ban ALL premium numbers of at least allow the telephone customer to be able to bar any number they wish including such rip-offs like 118.

[AndyOrch]

Off topic post removed...this is about Mystery missed calls on your mobile....not the EU or immigration.

 

Andy

[jacktheskipper]

I have been thinking about this issue of [problem] phone calls and it probably doesn’t affect mobiles but home phones where until fairly recently you could not cut-off someone you phoned and if they didn’t put the phone down.

The scenario goes something like this:

Elderly Agnes gets a lot PPI calls and salesmen for double glazing and indeed silent calls. So Agnes decides on the recommendation of her local trading dept and BT to see who is calling by dialling back the number displayed on her caller display.

So she inputs the 0844 or variant and it rings a couple of times and goes silent nothing appears to happen it is blank. Agnes puts her phone down and goes about her daily business as usual.

However unbeknown to Agnes the computerised [problem] has still got her phone connected at the highest rate per minute that they can charge. And this remains so for the next few hours or until the system times out.

The first thing Agnes finds out about it is when she receives her direct debit from BT and her bill. In Agnes mind it is too late and she has been scammed!

Reminiscent of the computer diallers [problem] a few years ago.

But there is an answer to this to resolve the issue…..?!?

Mobiles you surely simply switch off. I only ever use payg and top up only with £5 top ups so these £3000 bills (roaming) can never happen but the mobile companies hate these and are doing their best to phase them out and discourage people using them.

To Didlum…

The moderators have removed your post reply to mine as it was off topic OK…it didn’t directly address phone problems but what you said had a lot of truth and does resonate with me and probably a lot of others here too. I feel they overreacted when they took it off.

In answer to you and to anyone looks closely at the courts Police and government you can see that it is a bit of a charade that looks like and appears that deals with the public in a fair manner and to some extent it does; except when it comes up against a council, local authority, Police, judiciary or government or agent of a government…and ultimately acts to protect those in power and privilege and will never act against them whatever crimes they commit.

Even though the crimes by these so-called guardians of the public actually are often enemies of the public and contravene the English bill of rights and Magna Carta.

Very suspect in the parking charges industry... A fine example of this is the Barry Beavis case which ultimately threatened the councils and very dodgy debt collecting agencies around them. The old TV and movie quotes echo in my mind …. “We are the Law”

And that’s really what they believe….

[jacktheskipper]

For some unknown reason the text in your system has changed the word s c a m to the word problem. Please read the above with this in mind.