A new phone scam is making the rounds. This time someone may call you up claiming that they are from BT and that your account is an arrears. If they are unsuccesful in getting your account details out of you to make any ‘alledged’ due payments, they threaten to cut off your line. If you don’t believe them they have a neat little trick up their sleeve.
In order to convince you that they can cut you off, they ask you to put the phone down and then to check the line. The customer puts the phone down and then picks up again…there is no ring tone and it appears as though the line has been cut off. The caller then calls back saying that they have retsored the line but that this should convince you to pay up. How is this done? Well, when you put the phone down the caller does not, they simply press the mute button, keeping the call open and silent thus giving the impression that the line is dead when in fact it isn’t.
The only way your line can be cut is if a true BT engineer does so, or you are affected by any of the many ways in which the ‘last mile’ circuit between the local BT exchange and your premises is severed. This could include scenarios such as:
1. Road works cut through the cable by accident
2. Someone has been able to vandalise the green BT cabinet which serves your premises
3. Cable thieves have ripped up the copper cable between the local exchange and your premises (an increasingly UK-wide problem)
My advice is stay vigilant and if you don’t think you owe BT any money then you probably don’t!
Tags: BT, circuit, last mile, phone scam, telephony
