Dialup Hijacker.

[Lazarus]

Guys,

Neighbour of mine has become the victim of a dialup hijacker and their phone bill is rather large to say the least.

Is there any action they can take to reclaim some or all of the money concerned?

 

[`mongoose]

Contact BT and the police. It should be reported as a crime as it's Fraud.

BT should also be contacted as I think they may be able to help.

M

 

[Will]

You want send him to ICSTIS, who are the premium rate regulators in the UK. Complaints would be handled through them.

 

[Lazarus]

You want send him to ICSTIS, who are the premium rate regulators in the UK. Complaints would be handled through them.

Cheers Will,

unfortunately ;

This is what we know about the number you entered (08718731243).

ICSTIS does not regulate this type of number. However we can tell you the following.
This is classified as a Special Services higher rate: up to and including 10p for BT customers (non-internet) number.
It is provided by Band-X Limited.
And costs 10ppm [in pence or pounds where 'pm' means 'per minute' and 'pc' means 'per call'].

 

[Will]

Ah, its not a premium rate number.

He needs to contact his telephone provider, and they will probably try to fob him off.

 

[Damini]

Even if it was a preimium rate number, the chance of getting any money back is remote to non existant. If I remember this correctly, BT or who ever supplies his phone services has already paid for the minutes used to the rogue dialler, and is therefore reclaiming that money from your neighbour in its bill.

 

[Draylor]

For a while BT were actively blocking all numbers known to be used by these scams. Sadly they recently gave up.

Not that its any help, but these 0871 scams appear to be fairly well known. (Link popped up while finding the first)

Seems theyll have to throw themselves at the mercy of BT/whoever. Theres little they can do to prove these calls were made without their knowledge/consent - but its highly unlikely BT arent aware that the specific number is being used in this way.

 

[milou]

For what it's worth - details of the service provider:

Company No.: 03342626
Name & Registered Office:
BAND-X LIMITED
6TH FLOOR
51 ALDWYCH
LONDON
WC2B 4AX

Principal activities (from the accounts)

The Company's principal activities are the provision of facilities-based services for switch minutes and IP (Internet Protocol) based transmissions; the provision of switch partitioning, regulatory advice and consultancy as part of a managed service offering and the operation of a neutral trading floor for the telecoms industry to buy and sell transmission capacity and related facilities.

During 2003, the Group made continuing progress in its core businesses: revenue on continuing operations grew 8% to £36.6m

The IP trading exchange business continued to expand in both the US and UK. In the US both customer numbers and connected capacity increased significantly, by 114% and 90% respectively. The more-established UK business also grew significantly with customer numbers and connected capacity growing by 29% and 32% respectively. See www.band-x.com for further information.

A lot of money to be made...

 

[WPKenny]

Give them a call......

Band-X Limited
6th Floor Crown House
51 Aldwych
London WC2B 4AX
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7395 4500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7395 4501
E-mail: info@band-x.com


Let Band-X know that one of their numbers is being used for fraud. They're likely not to give a shit since it's earning them money and they're pretty much guaranteed the cash regardless of whther your mate pays his phone bill or not. They might cut the number off and refuse to pay whoever they're providing the service to. It's been a while since I spoke to anyone personally at Band-X so can't tell you who specifically to ask for but Carrier Sales is a good department to start with.

It won't help your mate's telephone bill much but it might make him feel a bit better.