作者归档：Jessica Braasch

关于Jessica Braasch

Since 2015 in the tellows team with a focus on Business Development and Marketing. My passion is analyzing marketing strategies and perfecting content. I present the developments of tellows as well as trends related to telephone fraud on the blog. Contact

(English) The Top 5 Most Wanted Spammers and Scammers

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对不起，此内容只适用于美式英文。

Dear friends of tellows,

with September just beginning, a lot of you have had busy telephone lines and rather than receiving pleasant calls from friends or family, a lot of you were bothered yet again dubious phone calls. The following numbers are the 5 worst offenders of the first week of September:

1. 01234567890 with 3 comments and 2768 search requests. tellows Score: 6
2. 08000641087 with 9 comments and 9519 search requests. tellows Score: 6
3. 08448471424 with 3 comments and 4294 search requests. tellows Score: 4
4. 01914326538 with 3 comments and 2422 search requests. tellows Score: 6
5. 01592642600 with 3 comments and 2963 search requests. tellows Score: 8

The most wanted of the week, number 01234567890 from Bedford, has made monthly appearances on the list since August and always ranked on first place. According to the overall consensus of our users, this number is used for a scam to gain access to the recipient’s computer by claiming it has been infected by a virus.

An even more notorious “guest” on our list, the number 08000641087 has been occupying the second place almost continously for the past two months. Calling frequently without leaving a message, the identity of the caller has remained a mystery to our users. However, some have shared their theories who might be behind the persistent calls:

This number called 5 times but leave any message; surely it is up to something bad. I dont how it had number but I have two theories. Either from ITV after submitting an answer to a competition or moneysupermarket.com after buying insurance, the only two companies I have recently given my number.

Our third place this week, telephone number 08448471424, has been first reported two years ago. With an overall tellows score of 4 and ratings ranging from 1 (reliable) to 8 (not trustworthy), the trustworthiness of the number has been the subject of some discussion. User mandeee stated:

This is the o2 collections department for overdue accounts. It’s an automated service, though, and will harass you for up to 24 hours AFTER you pay the bill. Trustworthy, but a nuisance, too.

A complete newbie to the list, number 01914326538 ranks on our fourth place and in spite of a score of 6, most users seem to consider it untrustworthy. Whereas some suspected a debt collection company behind the calls, user Concerned commented:

The above number called twice today, I did not recognise it nor did I answer it. I did, however call them back, the receiver was picked up for about 1-2 seconds then hung up with no communication. I was not impressed or appeased by this response so have been left suspicious of their intentions

Ranking on our fifth and final place this week, the telephone number 01592642600 is another newcomer to the list even though it has been active for quite a while and with a tellows score of 8, is not exactly deemed trustworthy. While some have marked the calls originating from Kirkcaldy as aggressive advertising, other users suggested that the number was used for investigations regarding tax fraud.

If you have further information on this or any other number that appears to be making dubious phone calls, you are more than welcome to contribute to our tellows community and exchange details about telephone numbers and callers with other users. Other than that, have a nice and hopefully peaceful weekend.

Your tellows team

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(English) This Week’s Most Wanted

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Dear friends of tellows,

it is time for our weekly update on the top 5 most wanted numbers on tellows. This week’s numbers cover a broad spectrum of unsolicited call methods including silent calls and cold calls as well as surveys and telemarketing. But have a look yourself:

1. 01415676218 with 11 comments and 4233 search requests. tellows Score: 7
2. 01616528220 with 6 comments and 2493 search requests. tellows Score: 7
3. 01133902114 with 3 comments and 3232 search requests. tellows Score: 7
4. 01383620466 with 7 comments and 1767 search requests. tellows Score: 7
5. 08453130337 with 14 comments and 6318 search requests. tellows Score: 6

This week’s number one, 01415676218, is persistently bothering people with what appears to be silent calls. User Samantha has offered a plan to put a stop to the unsolicited calls:

I started answering, they still call every day and I swear at them. I have put in a report to TPS, I advise everyone else to as well.

Our second number, 01616528220, is calling from Manchester and – with a tellows score of 7 – has been rated untrustworthy by most of our users. While some reported that the caller is asking for an unknown person by name, others have made the experience that the caller gives out false information. Rosalind commented:

Sophie rang said they had been INFORMED I had been refused a loan! This is completely UNTRUE but I am concerned – where did they get this information from? Immediately I questioned the source of the information she hung up.

Meanwhile, the level of trustworthiness of our third place, number 01133902114 is rather debated. All commentators seem to be sure, however, that the number from Leeds belongs to a digital communications company. With a score of 7, the number 01383620466 ranking on our fourth place, is yet another untrustworthy number. Whereas the caller left some of our users dubious messages on the answering machine, others have been complaining about silent calls. User D Williamson suggested:

Despite having complained to C R Smith – Gerard Eadie – these silent nuisance calls continue. A second report has been sent to OFCOM. Perhaps C R Smith should be handed a £90000 fine as was given to D M Designs recently.

The last number for today, 08453130337, apparently calls people to conduct a survey. As several commentators mentioned the same company as their telephone provider, some suspect that there might be a connection between the unwanted calls and the provider. cQueen shared some other suspicions:

Number keeps calling me. havent answered it but have looked online adn seems to be a marketing company. VERY annoying

As always we like to remind you that if you have any information about dubious numbers please don’t hesitate to share them with our tellows community! Thanks to the knowledge our users have volunteered a lot of people were able to avoid scam and spam callers, so keep up the good work and have a nice, spam-free weekend!

Your tellows team

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(English) Ofcom Study – Ban on Cold Calling is claimed

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对不起，此内容只适用于美式英文。

A research initiated by the Office of Communications (Ofcom) reveals the truth about unsolicited nuisance calls in the UK and thus calls for action to solve to problem of far too many cold calls.

The Ofcom Study
Within a period of four weeks 850 consumers were asked to keep a diary of all cold calls they receive. The Ofcom research revealed that 80 percent of the participants received unwanted calls regularly, on an average even more than twice a week. Especially calls on PPI reclaim (Payment Protection Insurance) were the most annoying and yet also the most often ones. While at least one out of four people got called more than 10 times, most calls came from PPI claim companies as well as from market research firms.

What is next?
In terms of the survey findings the Citizens Advice called for a complete ban on cold calling. Not only because more than one third of all complaints from companies are related to cold calls. Mostly firms dealing with financial services use cold and silent calls and thereby demanding upfront fees or trying to sell unprofitable offers, cheating people out of their pension. Furthermore the companies get personal data through the nuisance calls, mostly unbeknown and unauthorised by the individuals. A ban would help to make cold calls clearly identifiable as illegal. Citizens Advice recommends the banning of credit brokers and claims management companies as well as of pension unlocking services.

Ofcom follows a different strategy though. Not the banning but a wide investigation into claims management companies making the cold calls is needed. Thereby not only the big companies will be in the focus of enforcement actions, also smaller companies are responsible for the nuisance calls to a large extent and should be overseen. Ofcom is now promoting wider investigation and action regarding cold calls, especially dealing with claims. Thereby they focus on silent calls as well, which are done by the company’s telephone systems automatically without even having a staff member conducting the calls.

Taking Action
The government as well as other regulators and institutions are called upon to take action more effectively. Ofcom already imposed penalties for silent and abandoned calls done by major firms as TalkTalk. Furthermore the ICO supports the attempts of Ofcom by pointing out the regulations and industry rules to over 170 marketing companies. Nevertheless householders can get active themselves. By signing up for the free Telephone Preference Service (TPS) individuals can stop nuisance calls on the purpose of marketing and sales. However, as we already mentioned in our last article, it is extremely hard to block most of the calls, as they often come from overseas call centres. Not more than one third of all abandoned calls can be cut out. For further improvement Ofcom is currently collaborating with the ICO and the Ministry of Justice for more effective actions.

We will keep you informed about upcoming achievements in the struggle against nuisance calls in our blog on tellows UK.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/may/17/ofcom-urged-ban-cold-calling

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(English) Weekly Update on the UK’s Top 5 Most Wanted Telephone Numbers

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对不起，此内容只适用于美式英文。

Here we go again with Tellows weekly update on 5 most annoying spam and scam numbers in the UK. Let’s have a look what has been changed and who is the new Top 5 leader this week:

1. 01422387713 from Halifax – United Kingdom with a tellows Score of 9
2. 01618505451 from Manchester – United Kingdom with a tellows Score of 8
3. 01792455426 from Swansea – United Kingdom with a tellows Score of 8
4. 01933441081 from Wellingborough – United Kingdom with a tellows Score of 7
5. 01942710601 from Wigan – United Kingdom with a tellows Score of 7

1st place this week goes to the number 01422387713 from Halifax. There were more than 15000 inquiries for the Top Leader this week. Tellows user tmstony reported this number as harassment call and commented on this number:

Calls and hangs up. Unable to take no for an answer and behaves badly when I refuse to confirm personal data.

2nd place goes to the number 01618505451 from Manchester. Our users already know this number very well as it has been irritating them for the last couple of months and still persist being harassing. Tellows user Mad woman told us:

These blighters called my mobile phone – a number I never give out and saved for friends and family only and worried about a friend in hospital. Called them back, in a panic. Obviously a chattering call centre. Asked for who were they – HYC – what does that stand for Help Your Claim (hello??). And why did you think I needed help with any scurrilous claim? Got the schpiel, personal questions etc. OUTRAGEOUS! Said something unprintable and have now reported to Information Office Commission (government run) www.ioc.co.uk. Thx for your good work.

Last but not least this week number 01942710601 from Wigan. This is the first time this number appears in our weekly Top 5. Our user Jag commented:

I made a financial query on the MSE site and this number keeps on calling. FED UP!!!

Please do not hesitate to share your experience with us! Number of inquiries for unknown numbers increase every day and we need your contribution in order to provide more and more information on spam and scam numbers.

Together we can!
Your Tellows Team

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(English) A few clicks from an in-app advert can lead to a £200 cost

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A wave of protests, triggered by the in-app advertising featuring in Talking Friends Cartoons encouraged parents to become more cautious about the iPhone apps their children use.

Parenting groups actively warn parents to pay more attention towards the iPhone and iPad usage by their children, as this can result in large telephone bills, generated by children who were incentivised by the in-app advertisements.
The app developers constantly have challenges to face: previously it were costly in-app purchases placed in the most common children’s apps and now – in-app adverts. The most recent “immoral” iPhone in-app advertisement encouraged children to sign up to a £208 (per year) subscription service.

Well-known children’s cartoon, featuring Talking Tom Cat and Talking Lila the Fairy became the basis for the Talking Friends app, which then, respectively, motivated smart phones developers, like iPhone, iPad and Android to develop the Talking Friends Cartoon app for their electronic devices. It is a cost-free app, allowing users to expand their knowledge of the favourite characters, download cartoon’s wallpapers and, moreover, view short cartoons developed in co-operation with Disney. However, apart from that app users were exposed to the banner at the bottom of the screen, that, if linked, transferred them to a quiz, advertised by a firm called Yamoja, encouraging to participate in it and get a chance to win a 64GB iPad.

To participate in the contest clients had to subscribe, paying a weekly fee of £4, for which in turn they got sent 4 weekly messages like “funtones, wallpapers, games, celeb news & more”.

Stuart Dredge, famous for his remarks about Apps, posted a comment on such adverts in his Apps Playground blog: “What an advert that tries to sign you up to a £4-a-week mobile content subscription was doing inside this app is genuinely beyond me.”
The application was cleared from the app, but a different expensive inbuilt app has been recently introduced by National Geographic.

A lot of discussions appeared after the launch of Dino Land app in the middle of February 2013 since it offered the clients to purchase additional virtual “bones” for total sum of £69.99, which allowed rising the pace of the game. The offer seemed particularly alluring for children who could not wait to finish the game and were eager to accelerate this process.
Dino add provides series of apps for children such as Playmobil Pirates, Coin Dozer and Racing Penguin that include inbuilt offers with costly extras. Websites for parents reveal the raising numbers of cases when parents received bills of £500 or even larger amounts because of their children buying add-ons offered in a game while playing, and suggest the parents disabling any acquisitions through the apps.

CEO and co-founder of Mumsnet Justine Roberts said: “App-developers need to build in greater controls from the start – it’s shocking that a few click-throughs from an advert can lead to a £200 cost for unknowing parents, and it shows just how important it is to keep an eye on your child’s device settings.”

Founder of website for parents Netmums Siobhan Freegard commented: “Few people mind a couple of targeted ads which are relevant to the app service, as they realise it’s the price to pay for the ‘free’ app. But bombarding children using free apps with expensive products and services they can unwittingly sign up to a couple of clicks is immoral.”

Tellows highly recommend parents to pay more attention on apps your children are using to avoid such cases.

Kind regards,
Team Tellows

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(English) A weekly update: Our Top 3 of the most wanted telephone numbers!

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对不起，此内容只适用于美式英文。

These three numbers are currently most requested on tellows:

1.) 02034760353 from London with a tellows Score of 7
2.) 01933698538 from Wellingborough with a tellows Score of 7
3.) 08448471424 from an unknown place in the UK with a tellows Score of 5

The first place goes to 02034760353 from London. In spite of the fact that this number is our winner this week, nobody knows who hides behind it. User Holly shares her bad experiences:

This number called and called me… even at night! I tried to phone back but no one answers. Very annoying!!!

In case you know the person or company belonging to rank 1, feel free to add comments!

Number 01933698538, which was the most annoying number in the last Top 3, comes in second this week. There are new findings about it. Harveytoo supposes that we are dealing with a data-sale:

They asked for my husband, who has had a separate number for 15 years. So, they must be buying numbers from an old database

Our 3rd place goes with more than 1800 search requests to 08448471424. According to the users comments it’s a question of a debt collection company. But they aren’t at one with each other concerning the trustworthiness. While Ashton is sure that it’s a scam, MeSir talks about a serious debt collection number from O2.

Ashton:

I received two txt about an unpaid and overdue bill. Scammers, do not call back or pay!!!

MeSir:

Late payments for o2, not a scam.

Did you have a call from 08448471424, too? Then clarify the situation by commenting the trustworthiness!

That’s it from this week.
Your Team Tellows

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(English) The UK Top 3 Annoying Numbers

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There are some new numbers on the top UK spam ranks:

1. 01933698538 from Wellingborough with a tellows score of 7
2. 01614867770 from Manchester with a tellows score of 8
3. 01622845421 from Maidstone with a tellows score of 8

The first number ist a telemarketing call. User Tom shows us we should stand our ground!

“Another scammer? Caller quickly hung up when he realised he wasn’t going to get anywhere.”

This week on 2nd place ist another silent call number. And this is how it goes reportrted by Cooper

“a most interesting call.

“jo?”
“Hi, is that Mr Anthony ********?”
“Yes, speaking…”
line goes dead.

sparkling, isn’t it? “

The UK presents a new nighttime harasser with 01622845421, calling late at night claiming to be from Energy helpline.com asking for your bank account number. Remember you should never give out that kind of information over the phone!

That´s it for this week
Stay tuned and keep eyes and ears open for more spam numbers!
Kind regards,
Team Tellows

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(English) Ignoring The TPS!? The British Top 3 Phone Spammers

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The only number that didn´t change since the last British Top 3 spam number report is 01484818084 on rank 1.

1. 01484818084 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 8
2. 01412582118 from Glasgow with a tellows score of 8
3. 01234945454 from Bedford with a tellows score of 7

Manyfold telemarketing offers seem to originate from number 01484818084 – the British top spam number! As we discovered recently with the help of all Tellows users, the callers are not only trying to sell PI claims or mortgages but also goods, suchs as solar pannels. The latest comment reveals even another “product” – CI insurace. Insurance scam seems to be the most flourishing fraud method of all in Britain.

User waveylines reported:

Asian person who rang me wanting my details…for a claim he reckoned i was due….was reluctant to give me any details about the company he worked for -was evasive but eventually told me that hie company was called Talk International and he worked in the CI claims department..Difficult to understand his accent….

Tellows does not want to promote any stereotypes or xenophobia. We highly depreciate this. Please keep in mind that suspicious telemarketing companies hire the cheapest workforce and therefore often make a profit out of globalization and bad economic situations in other countries.

The number on rank 2 is getting on people’s nerves with silent calls. It is a typical method of checking phone numbers with the help of an automath in order to give telemarketing calls sooner or later. Same thing with 01234945454 which is on rank 3.

Don’t let them take over! The community counts on your comments!

Your Tellows Team

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(English) When the Saviour Calls and the Snake Bites – A Brief Introduction in the Ways of Dubious PC Wizards, Doctors and other Online Charlatans

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Your PC is infected with a Virus! – That’s What They Say!

First things first, sit back and relax. If you receive a phone call from company that claims to work on the behalf of Microsoft, it is a fraudulant attempt to drain your bank account. These wannabe Microsoft employees will spin tales about the most malevolent of software and the ways your PC system was infected by it. According to the American computer forum bleepingcomputer.com the fraudsters will try to lure you on onto their website to download a software called Teamviewer. This program enables the scammers to access your PC directly and, therewith, provides them with the opportunity to download and install malware, manipulate your system settings and spy for personal data. However, Microsoft will not call to warn you of a potential viral infection and offer support for free. Microsoft is not ignorant of the scam and was quick to publish an article on their investigation into the matter on their windows blog.

It’s those Indians – Isn’t it?

In most cases the caller entertains an indian accent. According to the Guardian the calls may originate in India. Nonetheless, the collaboration of additional companies is required to successfully funnel the money back to India. Firms such as PayPal are tricked into these dark schemes by forged documents but once the scammer’s accounts have been identified they are shut down immediately. Unfortunately, reversing already processed debit cards payments is nearly impossible.
However, Indian call centres are only one cogwheel in far greater machination. In numerous cases fake spyware lead the PC user to believe that his or her windows suffers dangerous malware by displaying fake system reports. In the next step the software will urge the user to dial non-geographical bound numbers, such as 18005010335 and 01234765093 to contact support and, ultimately, purchase the fake anti-spyware program. The very existence of rogue anti-spyware program indicated the involvement of professional developers aiming at infecting the peoples’ PC for profit.

Knowledge is Power – And Profit as Well !!!
Considerably more dangereous than the infection itself, however, is the fact that the scammers’ target groups are the old and the ignorant. Both of those groups believe in the authortity of the caller and , therewith, deliver themselves into the trap. Since the people’s ignorance is the fraudsters’ greatest and most effective weapon it is imperative to share our knowledge on the topic in every way possible. Tellows.co.uk and tellows.com provide the means to share information quickly and without restraint (as long as conformity with the law is given). This scam is most virulent in the english speaking parts of the world, although similar attempts of fraud have been reported in Germany where fraudsters even mimic the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the german intelligence agency. The scammer’s knowledge goes hand in glove with their profits, our knowledge, however, equips us with the power to deny them every single cent, penny or whatever currency there might be!

Take Care !!!
Team Tellows

Sources:
1. Dealing with Fake Tech Support & Phone Scams – Windows Security Blog
2. Virus phone scam being run from call centres in India – The Guardian
3. Beware of phone telephone scammers calling on behalf of Google – Bleepingcomputer.com

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(English) Better the Spammer You Know than the Spammer You Don’t – Weekly Top 3

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And this is the new top of the spams:

01482489776 – with a tellows score of 7
01702356720 – with a tellows score of 7
02477240004 – with a tellows score of 7

This week’s top number is a mysterious one, never leaving anything but blank messages on people’s answering machines, pretending to belong to Orange – at least that is what the automated message says when you try calling them back. They have been annoying people for some months now. Some individuals even called Orange and asked for information on this number, just like

Orange customer reported:

Have definitely been told in writing from Orange that this is not a genuine Orange number and is at the moment being investigated by their security

On the second rank, ladies and gentleman, there is a cold caller from Southend on Sea. He says his name is Ross and calls people at home and then asks to speak to a certain person. If the person is not available, he justs hangs up. Must be agood business, eh?

Another hero is the one on this week’s 3rd rank. Ping calls from Coventry…

Aydeegee reported:

Hung up when I answered. Shame – I was looking forward to a long, time wasting conversation!

Let’s see what comes next! Forewarned is forearmed!

Have a nice undisturbed weekend in the sun!

Yours,
Team Tellows

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