Bank Charges

[mangar]

This morning I received a phone call regarding banks overcharging. The caller said this was a free call and to press button 2. I did this but as it started to ring out I put the phone down. The caller had withheld their number. Is this a scam and has anyone else received such a call?

[ACtheTROLL]

Ohhhh dear .... it's certainly a scam .... you could well already have been charged some ridiculous call charge .... or if you are lucky you bailed out in time.

Banks will NEVER EVER ring you unless you initiate the contact.... (even in a dire emergency) .... they will write .... or more usually just wait for you to question their information or actions (a statement, or a refused transaction).

if they do .... never ever ever give any account information .... not even your secret phrase or postcode.

ask them for a department .... and ring them back on one of the numbers on your statement.

[mangar]

Thanks ACtheTroll. The caller didn't say they were a bank only that some banks were overcharging. Hopefully I did cut the call off in time.

[Oneeyedvic]

Please disregard what neildownx says - here is no telephone call that charges �25 a minute. It is purely an urban myth.

[ACtheTROLL]

please disregard Oneeyedvic
there most certainly is (are) high rate premium calls

a legitimate example is rapidshare ... where you pay your subscriptions by making a call.
most of the girly sites charge a minimum of �1.50 per min (calls last max of 8 mins!) (so I hear!!) before regulation this was relatively cheap

Don't forget ... most of these scam calls originate overseas .... (and not every telco has regulation on maximum costs) - so call charges go to the owner of the site .... not to the regulated telco

recently my company had a flood of mobile messages left with users ... a few did return the call .... the tarrif was �38.00 for a very very quick call

[ACtheTROLL]

mangar

if you have online billing you should be able to see the call by now.

but logically pressing the button would only divert your incoming call (which as yet can't be charged) ...(by the other end) my guess is that you'd have been asked to ring .....xxxxxxxx and then been given a long stand.

don't let it spoil christmas

[Oneeyedvic]

Please reread my sentence "There is no telephone call that charges �25 a minute" The maximum you can pay for a call is �1.50 per minute

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/consumers/prs_c ost_and_where_money_go.asp

[mangar]

Thank you all for your replies. I have checked my calls account on line (ACtheTROLL) but the latest date is 6 December. I will have to wait a few more days to be sure. I will let you know if it is good or bad news . Thanks once again.

[Oneeyedvic]

Neil, maybe you would like to give an example of where someone in the UK has dialled a telephone number that costs �25 per minute.

Even 'diallers' which used to make modems call a premium rate number charged up to a �1.50 per minute.

Just one example will be fine.

[Oneeyedvic]

Yes, I understand your point.

What I am saying is please can you provide an example of where this has happened.

I don't believe it has, and you are purely scaremongering.
I can't find a single news article about your scam so perceive that it does not exist.

I am also fairly confident that the service providers (ie BT etc) will automatically have this kind of number barred from your phone - so you can't ring it even if you tried.

After all, if you were to get this kind of bill, most people would fight it.

So again, please can you provide a link to a story where this has happeded to a British person.