quote:
Originally posted by Eric
Just tell them you are starting up your PC (but don't!) and leave them on hold for half an hour. They have to pay for the call!
Unfortunately Eric in a lot of cases this is not true as these scams are operated by criminal gangs, and one of the things they also do is to hack or even physically tap into some poor buggers phone lines and then run their (considerable) international telephone traffic through it, and leave the line owner with a great big bill, often running into thousands of pounds, and it is always put onto the end user customer. So keeping them on hold costs them little or nothing for the call[
!]
The Calls Carriers take no responbibility for this crime at all, and their absence of any effective prevention controls, or indeed auto detection that it is taking place is shameful. They and your service calls service provider dodge out of it in their T&C's:-\
I am afraid it happens a lot in the UK, and other western countries. The eastern european mafias are apparently the best at it, and they sell a lot of these 'opened' lines onto the 'grey' market of the pre-paid telephone cards, which very interestingly is apperently controlled in the UK by the Turkish Mafia!!
