Cold calling RAC scam - be aware of this!

[MrShed]

Hi all, just thought might be a good idea to give a heads up about this.

 

Over the last couple of days, I have received a couple of calls from a number 08700 500 524. Usually when I have answered, the phone has just gone dead, but someone spoke yesterday. A Scottish guy, claiming to be from the RAC, trying to sell me some "personal accident cover" for a special offer of £15. I let him do his shpeal, and proceeded to challenge him by informing him that I do not ever give out personal information for payment or anything else on a cold call. He said that "I do not need to give any personal information, just confirm the direct debit details that are already on file". Well, this came as something as a surprise to me, as I have no direct debit with RAC, and never have done. I informed him of this, and basically, to cut a long story short, I challenged him on a few more points, and he got off the phone very quickly.

 

More to confirm that I had no direct debit than anything, I then proceeded to ring RAC "back" on their customer care number. They were very helpful, she checked all of the records for me and then informed me that absolutely for certain no-one from RAC had rang me that day. She also informed me that if RAC ever rang me, they would never ask for any form of personal details, including but not limited to bank details and debit card details. They seemed very concerned, and have apparently escalated it to a department to look into the possible fraud being carried out by some third party.

 

So the moral of the story I guess is to never give out personal info to an incoming caller!

 

As a point of note, may be worth saying what my "good practice" is with cold callers. IF I am ever interested in what they are selling(which is very rare), I simply ask for their name and/or EXTENSION number, then hang up. I proceed to look up the name of the company on a legitimate source, ring the company, and ask for the person. This prevents people claiming to be from a company they are not.

 

Hope this helps some people!

[buzby]

Only slightly relevant - I received a similar call from the RAC but it turned out to be Aviva (Norwich Union) who were flogging Insurances to RAC members. Like you, I don't buy anything from cold sales callers (door or phone), but rogue call centre staff aside - it is a worrying trend.

[MrShed]

I think there should be some kind of legal requirement that if you are only ringing on behalf of the company, but not the company itself, you should have to declare this. If I speak to someone on the phone I want to know the name of the company that employs THEM, not the company who have subcontracted them!

 

 

Grrrr hate cold callers

[buzby]

Still at least there is a number presented. When CLI came in and OFTEL allowed these firms to make calls anonymously, I was appalled - I said it was open to abuse and complained the reason for exclusion on 'technical' terms untenavle. But, the loophole was there and 10+ yeas of untraceable calls resulted. At least numbers MUST be shown, but a pity the bulk of them show 'fake' (Presentation) numbers, rather than the real number used to call you.

[patdavies]

Still at least there is a number presented. When CLI came in and OFTEL allowed these firms to make calls anonymously, I was appalled - I said it was open to abuse and complained the reason for exclusion on 'technical' terms untenavle. But, the loophole was there and 10+ yeas of untraceable calls resulted. At least numbers MUST be shown, but a pity the bulk of them show 'fake' (Presentation) numbers, rather than the real number used to call you.

 

A call centre may have a thousand trunks across a DDI range, used for outbound calling. Other trunks will be designated for inbound calling. It is just not viable to present a CLI for each trunk, so a single CLI is presented for CallerID and 1471. This will be a generic number that will allow you to leave a message (or give you an inbound DDI number to call) to have your phone number removed from the dialler.

 

Also, it is perfectly normal for the call centre to be running other campaigns across the same outbound trunks. Each campaign will present its own single CLI - this is generated in the dialler.

[buzby]

This wasn't the issue - I fully understand how out/in trunks are handled by switching systems and the later VOIP connectivity. The problem was OFTEL permitterd the absence of number information because the originating equipment could not provide the data. This may have been the case, but until last year firms with the latest kit and fully capable of showing numbers did not do so because of the loophole.

 

This issue has largely gone because of the change that demands firms present a number, but now with overseas calling centres, OFCOM cannot mandate for inbound international calls, and despite the international C7 connection supporting CLU, these (usually) indian call centres have turned their number presentation off....

 

It makes you wonder.....

[delboytrotter]

you should have a look at leakingwindscreen.com to see how RAC operate......

[buzby]

Like Virgin, it's simply a firm paying to use the branding.

[david_gwenterline]

Calm down love. The RAC subcontracted a call centre in Scotland to sell their Legal Care policy to existing members.

 

No big deal.