标签归档:ping calls

(English) The 7 biggest myths about telephone scam and Co.

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

Dear tellows-fellows,

Superficial knowledge can be dangerous, we all know that. In terms of telephone advertising and fraud, it can cost you a lot of money and nerves! Therefore, today we present you the most common myths regarding telephone advertising, telephone fraud and possible manipulations on tellows and clearify them.

money transfer

1. Telephone scam only affects older people

As soon as one hears of telephone scam, one has more in mind the 93-year-old Mary-Ann, who was tricked by fraudsters, than the 26-year-old computer science student Stella. The fact is: Fraudsters often try to scam older target groups since they tend to be less careful and easier to be fooled. They are not always informed about the latest phone scam tricks, so a call from an alleged family member or the bank employee can turn into a costly trap.

However, this does not mean that everyone else can think themselves safe. Since there are many types of fraud, the victims differ. There are even tricks that mainly lead to success for the fraudsters among younger people. Such an example would be the Microsoft support scam, which targets access to sensitive data from their victims on the phone. According to Microsoft, this stitch is particularly successful in the age group of 18 to 34 years.

2. As long as I don’t give out any data about myself, I can’t lose any money

Unfortunately, this is also a misconception. It is true that you should never reveal your data on the phone, but there are other ways to get your money. Ping calls pose a great risk here. In this case, the fraudsters ring only a few seconds to provoke a recall. If this is done, a high fee will be charged, as the numbers are often foreign and you will be drawn into a waiting loop that can cost you a lot of money per minute.
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(English) The Bank Transfer Scam

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

Dear tellows friends,

Bank transfer fraud happens more often than you can imagine. Fraudsters imitate various offial organisations, including banks, to persuade you to move money out of your account and into their hands.

Scammers use manipulative methods to panic real people into handing over their money and details. Perhaps you receive a call or text telling you that your account has been ‘compromised’ and you need to move your money somewhere ‘secure’. Maybe you have to click a link inside a text message or email and log in to your online banking account to stop a transaction. Of course such messages are more often than not fraudulent, but they can look very realistic. Links in text messages may take you to a spoofed albeit realistic version of your bank’s website, making the fraud almost more believable.

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(English) Who do fraudsters target and why do we get caught out?

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

Hello tellows friends,

For our blog this week, we thought it would be fun to do something different and give you a more general report about who fraudsters target and why we fall for scams.

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(English) Scam calls on the increase, nuisance calls in decline

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

Hello tellows friends,

Have you received fewer nuisance calls lately? Research by Ofcom would suggest so.

According to this Ofcom research, fewer nuisance calls are being made to UK landlines. So we can all breathe a sigh of relief, right? No, unfortunately not. Scam calls are still on the rise, and they now account for a much larger proportion of the nuisance calls received.

继续阅读

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(English) The Silent Call Plague – Weekly Top 3 Spammers

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

There’s not much news on the top UK spam ranks:

1. 01932504981 from Weybridge with a tellows score of 7
2. 07520905002 mobile phone number with a tellows score of 8
3. 02073286956 from London with a tellows score of 7

Insurance scam business is still flousishing, especially with the number 01932504981 that is still relentlessly trying to sell car insurance on behalf of Van compare.

User Odd call‘s comment speaks of the incompetence of the caller:

Answered and they said calling from car insurance company and that my insurance was up for renewal and was this right? I said “I have no idea” the guy on the other end said “oh my gosh!” and hung up. I have no idea what he thought I said, but it was different for a sales team to hang up on me rather than the other way round.

We got a silent call number on rank two for a change. Best comment of the week by scamhater says it all:

My advice is to always do what I do with these scam type calls;

1. use your phone to make a recording of 1 second of silence. (keep this 1 second silence in your ringtone or media folder)

2. save the recording and call it scamtone or something.

3. then enter the scammy number into your address book as ; scam1, scam2, scam 3 etc. Each one represents a different scammy number that you get over time.

4. finally, associate the 1 second of silence with each scammy number as a ringtone.

Simple – they can ring and ring and if you dont hear it you dont pick it up. If it is associated to a name ; Scam1 etc, you will never be tempted to ring it back from your call history.

Last week’s rank-3-number stayed where it is, still harassing people in the UK at all times of night. There are some hints that such silent calls at night could originate from an overseas call center, probably in India. Some companies are hiring telephone assistants in countries, where workforce is cheaper for them. They obviously did not keep the time zones in mind.

And as we already emphasized a million times, silent calls proved to be the precursors of real telemarketing or scam calls – so watch out!

Stay tuned and keep eyes and ears open for more spam numbers!

Kind regards,

Team Tellows

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(English) Weekly Top 3 Spammers

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

Were are back again to bring you the top 3 spammers of the week. Shame on:

1. 01932504981 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 7
2. 01412582118 from Weybridge with a tellows score of 8
3. 02073286956 from London with a tellows score of 7

Last week’s second and third rank numbers moved one rank up. The new most active spam number is 01932504981 trying to sell car insurance on behalf of Van compare.

Dorothy reported last week:

Never heard of them, phone number not normally given. But then again all I got was someone that sounded stoned and hung up, but when i checked this number they said it was about car insurance.

This week’s second worst spammer has been well known to us already. We already found out that it must be a slightly unprofessional call centre. If they are not giggling or leaving offensive messages on people’s answer machines, they are tying their best to sell a wide range of products: air conditioners, home security alarms and solar panels.

Short comment by user 111a:

Rude people making harrassment calls, keep hanging up if you speak.

The last but not least annoying number is 02073286956, providing thousands of households with harassing silent calls. You pick up, but there is no-one on the other end.

Silent calls proved to be the precursors of real telemarketing calls – so watch out!

Remember: Never ever tell confidential personal information to telemarketers or fraudsters phishing for information!

Kind regards,

Team Tellows

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(English) UK’s Top 3 Spammers Sell Insurance

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对不起,此内容只适用于美式英文

Surprise, surprise! 01484818084 is persisting on rank 1 of the British top spam numbers.

1. 01484818084 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 8
2. 01932504981 from Weybridge with a tellows score of 7
3. 01412582118 from Glasgow with a tellows score of 8

As we already reported last week, number 01484818084 is a telemarketing number for PI claims, mortgages, insurance and even solar pannels. The latest comment by user Amber says that the number is still active, but it sounds like it is giving silent calls once in a while, as well:

Keep calling me, no one ever speaks, now on my phones “blocked number” list sends their call straight to my voice mail.

Insurance, insurance, insurance. Is there anything in life they do not have an insurance for? The company number on rank 2 is apparently Van Compare Insurance or Connect Quote – or a callcentre working for both of them. Several users reported this fact after having called them and after being led to the company´s answer machine.
copper1fox wrote:

Called this number back and this number takes you to an automated message advising they are calling up about car insurance.

On this week´s rank 3 we have a really ridiculous call centre. They really seem to be selling anything! Tellows users commented the following items sold by this number: air conditoning/dehumidifier, solar panels and grants, Home Safe Security and alarms as well as green energy.

User Broadsword wrote:

They rang twice man with strong Glasgow accent asking “Do you want any Gear”, plus other dirty comments. Laughed a few times and hang up. This at 10.30am.

Did they call you, too? What else can you tell us about these numbers? Are there any other harassing, ridiculous or dangerous numbers trying to call you?

We appreciate all useful comments on harassing phone numbers.

In the name of the community: Thank you!

Your Tellows Team

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(English) Spam Numbers Of The Week – The British Top 5

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The most annoying numbers are still the same, though there are some changes on the minor ranks:

1. 01484818084 from Huddersfield with a tellows score of 8
2. 01234945454 from Bedford with a tellows score of 7
3. 07968463380 a mobil phone number with a tellows score of 7
4. 07787225074 a mobil phone number with a tellows score of 9
5. 07787241083 a mobil phone number with a tellows score of 9

This week’s most annoying phone number 01484818084 has been searched more than 5293 times now. Beware! Several stories about what the callers are offering on this number have been reported. The range is very wide, starting off with PI claims, mortgages as well as solar pannels. This does not sound trustworthy at all.

This is what waveylines wrote about this number:

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.

For number 01234945454 we found out that the initial ping calls comming from this number turned into PPI claims spam. We already reported about this method in a previous article:

Main principle of the scam: the caller is trying to convince people that they are owed money for an unclaimed PPI insurance. The method of the fraudulant calls is simple: assuming the called person has a loan, stating exactly how much money the person is owed by the unclaimed insurance and offering their service of getting the client’s money back – after prior payment, of course.

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We count on you in the struggle against phone spam and scam!

Your Tellows Team

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(English) And The Spamming Goes On – Weekly Top 3 Spam Numbers Of The UK

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Here are this week’s top three callers:
1. 02073451299 from London with a tellows score of 8
2. 0166886633 from Bamburgh with a tellows score of 8
3. 07520905078 a mobile phone number with a tellows score of 6

No changes on rank 1: this week’s favourite has reached more than 4000 queries by now. Everything looks as if we are dealing with a lottery scam. Beware and remember never to tell unknown callers or strangers any of your bank details.

And again, we are quoting user wickedshelly here:

called me today whilst in the middle of my shopping! told me i had won a comp for an ipad and £1000 lady then asks if i have ever entered the euromillions and wanted to know how many lines!! i then questioned whether shed want my card details to which she said yes! this is when i told her to never contact me again as i dont buy into scams! somehow this company had my details, must have been passed on through a third party along the way but i certainly dont appreciate it!

On rank two, there is a newbie from Bamburgh amongst our top 3 which seems to be nothing more than an automated silent caller.

Skeeboots wrote:

I am sick to death of this caller continually calling me, morning afternoon and evening, nobody speaks and then you get the engaged tone. It calls a minimun of 4 times a day, everyday. Have tried phoning the number but it doesn’t exist. Please can someone stop it!!!

This is what Lisa wrote already some weeks before:

I’ve just reported this number at http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/privacy/silent-call/ – don’t know if it will help but shouting down the phone hasn’t stopped the 2 calls a day i have been receiving for over a month now!!

For the 3rd most annoying caller, user Mr. E wrote:

Missed call like all the others, I’m in the UK and it went straight through to an American answerphone saying I was 7th in a queue so promptly hung up!
Would be nice to know exactly who it is!!

Indeed! Our guess: another automath checking active numbers in order to call back later with particular offers.

We look forward to a nice weekend and sure will bring you some news next week.

Yours,
Team Tellows

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(English) Stop The Spam! Top 3 Of The Week

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Actions speak louder than words. Cold calling is more effective than other ways of advertising. Is it? Nothing is more annoying than spam calls in the early morning or at night …

Here are this week’s top three callers:
1. 01143072406 from London with a tellows score of 7
2. 07520905078 – mobile phone number with a tellows score of 6
3. 01477536273 from Holmes Chapel with a tellows score of 7

15 calls a day? No problem! The number on rank 1 is trying to provide dodgy lotteries.

User Richdragon reported:

Caller said he was calling regarding a competition to win iPhone on-line which I may have done as the caller confirmed my email address as well as obviously knowing my mobile numer which I rarely give out and never to online competitions. I asked them to send info in writing. I asked them to stop calling but they still keep calling. These people are a pain, are a pain. Yes I said it twice maybe they read these reports so maybe I can waste a bit of their time too.

phillip watkins reported us further details about this untrustworthy company:

vat number 880231931 customer care number 08448802598 btb european services limited www.eurochance100.co.uk i dunno bout this but sounds to good to be true

The number on rank two is trying to get people to call them back and put them in a queue. Beware – this might be a cost trap! By the American accent of the answering machine it is highly probably that your are calling overseas.

auteurneuf reported:

Got a call, no response when answered. Called back- straight to an American automated message saying I was 2nd in the queue so promptly hung up.

On rank three we have a cold caller with a Holmes Chapel number.

Stu wrote:

Asked for Mr. Rich Lewis. Said not on this number, he said I’m very sorry bye. Quite polite actually! Sounded Northern and like a call centre.

Stay tuned!

Team Tellows

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