Call For Action Against Internet Scam

Phone companies are not doing enough to warn customers about internet "rogue-dialling" scams, according to premium phone line regulator Icstis. It has received 45,000 complaints in recent months about dial-up internet connections diverting to premium rate numbers without users' knowledge.

Phone companies refuse to pay compensation because they say calls must be paid for.
They must warn people earlier about possible fraud, Icstis said.

People who use dial-up connections can be affected by the scams.
Without realising, a programme can be downloaded which diverts internet calls via a premium phone line.

Victims often fail to notice until they receive an unusually high bill.
Icstis spokesman Rob Dwight said: "Phone companies should get in touch with their customers sooner.

'Call barring'

Phone companies had the systems in place to spot fraudulent activity and artificially-inflated traffic, he said.

"We alert them to the numbers that we have under investigation and they should be looking out for these numbers," he added.

Telecoms ombudsman Elizabeth France said: "Certainly I would not be surprised to find my credit card company phoning me if I do something out of the ordinary."

"So I would expect phone companies to be looking to see if they can have a similar approach."

The biggest phone company BT says it is doing what it can to monitor fraud and warn people about rogue dialling.

Its advice to customers is to use call barring if they want to prevent calls to premium lines because, under the current system, once the call has been made there's little that can be done.

'Quite a task'

Gavin Patterson, group managing director for BT Consumer, said "We do look at customer's calling patterns and we do make interventions when they are out of the ordinary.

"We're looking at the moment at whether we can improve this."

But as BT handled 180 million calls a day monitoring was "quite a task in itself", he added.

The government has ordered a review of premium line services and is likely to say Icstis should have more power to deal with rogue diallers in future.

At the moment, it cannot demand pay-outs on the behalf of customer - it can only close illegal services down.

Source: BBC

Scam report is scam

In response to the earlier message about the 'phone scam ...


BT and premium rate phone watchdog ICSTIS have once again reassured punters that an alleged phone scam that could cost them £20 a minute is a hoax.

The intervention of BT and ICSTIS follows a statement by Wiltshire Constabulary published on its Web site on Friday warning people to be on their guard against the alleged scam.

The statement warned punters not to press the number 9 on their phone if they receive a call telling them they've won an "all expenses paid trip to..." wherever. If they do, warned police, they could be liable for a whopping bill of £260.

A spokesman for Wiltshire police told The Register that a number of people had received the "phone call" but was unable to say whether anyone had been charged for the call.

ICSTIS is known to be keen on speaking to Wiltshire police in a bid to clear up this misleading hoax.

Wiltshire Police have now removed the warning from its Web site.

A spokesman for BT, told The Register: "The technology doesn't exist on a BT line to make a reverse charge call by pressing a single button."

And here's what ICSTIS has to say on the matter.

£20 Per Minute Telephone 'Scam' - An Urban Myth
Over the last few days ICSTIS has received hundreds of enquiries about the above 'scam', which is being widely publicised by e-mail. To help us put an end to the current spate of enquiries, please pass this information on to all contacts.

The apparent 'deception' takes place when people receive a recorded message informing them that they have won an all-expenses paid holiday and are asked to press 9 to hear further details. It is then claimed that callers are connected to a £20.00 per minute premium rate line that will still charge them for a minimum of five minutes even if they disconnect immediately. It is also claimed that, if callers stay connected, the entire message lasts for approximately 11 minutes, costing £220.00. Please note this is not true.

A £20.00 per minute premium rate tariff does not exist – the highest premium rate tariff available is £1.50 per minute. Despite the hundreds of enquiries received by ICSTIS about this ‘scam’ (and most have heard about it second or third-hand), not one person who claims that it has actually happened to them has been able to produce a phone bill to support their story.

ICSTIS urges any individual or organisation that receives an e-mail about this scam to delete it immediately. Please do not forward it on to others. ®

Dollar hits fresh record lows

The dollar hit fresh record lows against the euro on Wednesday on speculation Russia could increase its reserves of the single currency.

The US currency's new fall follows recent sharp declines on worries about the yawning US trade gap.

What is seen as a lack of will among US policymakers to halt the decline has seen the dollar plumb new lows against many other major currencies.

Against the euro it traded at $1.3159 at 1615 GMT, after reaching $1.3168.

Scaremongers

The greenback is now trading at nine-year lows against a basket of foreign currencies.

"Scaremongers are now touting a US dollar armageddon... with little to halt the appreciation of the euro," said Matthew Foster-Smith, currency analyst with IFR Forex Watch.

Meanwhile, speculation was growing that the Federal Reserve may intervene to stem the dollar's slide.

"With markets thin over Thanksgiving , you can't rule (intervention) out," said Elizabeth Miller, an analyst at Redtower Research.

Fears that the US wants to see its currency weaken to ease its massive current account deficit have been a driving force behind the dollar's recent decline.

Fuel was added to the fire last Friday after Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the current account gap was unsustainable.

He also added that foreigners might lose their appetite for dollar assets, given the size of the US deficit.

Euro hungry

Meanwhile, last weekend's meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers failed to signal a policy response to the greenback's decline, giving extra impetus to dollar bears.

The latest sell-off began on Tuesday afternoon after Russia's central bank said the bank was reviewing its forex reserves "with the highest priority".

Though euros already account for 25% to 30% of Russia's reserves, commentators believe it is hungry for more.

The recent bounce-back in oil prices also served to weaken the US currency, analysts said.

US light crude futures briefly pitched above $50 per barrel on Tuesday.

Further to fall?

The dollar's relentless tumble shows no sign of abating.

According to analysts at Capital Economics, the greenback could have a lot further to fall unless the current account deficit is reduced to a sustainable level.

Policymakers are trying to quash US consumers' thirst for buying imports as one way of solving the current account crisis.

However, Capital Economics argued, it is unlikely that a weakened currency will be enough to cure the problem alone. US consumers need to start saving, it claims, which will end up slowing consumer spending growth.

And as Europeans are unlikely to be happy that their export-driven industries are bearing the brunt of the dollar's dive, some economists fear that something unforeseen could trigger an even deeper crisis.

"You never know what beat from a butterfly's wing will send this thing into oblivion," said David Gilmore of Foreign Exchange Analytics.

But others were more sanguine.

"I'd say the people selling dollar's are speculators," said Marc Chandler of Terra Capital Partners.

"We need to keep this in perspective. We are not seeing wholesale capital flight from the United States."

Source: BBC News

Beware - Telephone Scam

Hello this is Dave Bromley and I am
not trying to sell you anything. I am
sending you this e-mail purely to warn
you about a new telephone scam.

A friend of mine, Malcolm Horsey told me about it
yesterday and I have decided it is
potentially so serious that I should warn
all my customers and subscribers .
This may mean that if you are on more than
one of my information lists that you will
receive further copies of this e-mail and
I am sorry about that but just delete them.

I have been advised of a telephone fraud
currently in operation (this applies to home
and/or work telephones - land lines and mobiles)

If you do receive one of these calls, upon
answering the telephone, you will hear a
recorded message congratulating you on winning
an all expenses trip to an exotic location. You
will then be asked to press 9 to hear further
details. If you press 9 you will be connected
to a premium rate line that costs approximately
£20 per minute. Even if you disconnect
immediately, it will remain connected for a minimum
of 5 minutes, costing around £100. The final part
of the call involves you being asked to key your
postcode and house number (which has other serious
consequences).

After a further 2 minutes you will receive a
message informing you that you are not one of
the lucky winners. The total bill will
be £260.

Since the calls are originating from outside the UK,
BT and othertelephone companies are left relatively
powerless to act. The only safe solution is to HANG UP
before the message prompts you to press 9; even
safer is to HANG UP on any unsolicited 'free offer’ call.
This appears to be a variation on a theme, warnings
have been sent previously regarding calls made by
individuals claiming to be engineers conducting a
test on the line and asking for 9, 0# and text
messages similar to the routine described above.
DO NOT DIAL 9 (OR 9,0# OR 0,9#) FOR ANYONE!
BT has been contacted and confirmed the details as being true.

There is another scam operating on Mobile Phones.
A Missed Call comes up. The number is 0709 020 3840.
The last four numbers may vary but certainly the
first numbers will remain the same. If you
call this number back, you will be charged £50 per
minute. People have complained about their phone bills,
once they have realised the cost of
the call but apparently this is completely
legal. So beware, do not call back numbers beginning with 0709.

Please feel free to pass this information on to
your family and friends.
The only way to beat scams like this is to be pre
warned and hopefullynone of us will get caught.
Regards
Dave Bromley

Home working trial proves popular

"Four people have been trapped in their homes for 48 hours to discover the benefits and pitfalls of teleworking.

Run by net firm Telewest the trial tried to find out if workers can do their job better when at home.

Those taking part said they did get more done but missed the chance to chat face-to-face with colleagues and contacts.
Being at home also gave those taking part much more time to spend with their families.

Confined to quarters

Howard Watson, chief technology officer of Telewest Broadband, said the trial was not just a test of technologies that make it easier to connect to corporate systems from home or other remote locations.

As well, he said, the trial was undertaken to see just what difference it can make to a working day and to see what effect it had on an employee's ability to manage their day's work.

'The one resounding factor that all participants agree on is that home working enables them to get more work done in a shorter time,' he said.
On the first day of the trial Colin Dean, systems director at timber firm Arnold Laver, said: 'I have been absolutely flying through my work this morning.'

'I also did something I haven't done for years - eat lunch,' he said, 'I know this sounds really insignificant, but to the people who work with me in the office this will be a revolution.'

The participants in the trial said that they got so much done because they did not have to deal with the constant round of interruptions that punctuate a day in the office.

However, said Mr Watson, this separation did expose one of the problems of remote working.

The fact that the trial participants could not talk face-to-face with colleagues and contacts in other firms was seen as a disadvantage.

Not being able to find and talk to a co-worker could mean that some tasks take longer when out of the office and working remotely.

The biggest advantage reported by those taking part was the extra time home working gave them to spend with their families.

"Doing away with commuting meant they could get more work done and had more personal time available in the evenings," said Mr Watson.

Some of those taking part were able to drop children off at school, pick them up, help with homework and get a full day's work done.

I found time to run an errand this lunchtime and get some petrol as I'm going out this evening," said Nick Harwood, group computer Security manager at insurance firm Royal London.

"I suppose the benefit of being at home is having the flexibility to pop out and do this," he said.

Those taking part are all employed at companies that are customers of Telewest Business.

Source: BBC News

28 has been posted. Now available on-line

Working Hours Free! magazine, Issue 28, has gone out to all subscribers (in colour too) while the 'extra' 1000 copies will be black and white and will be sent out as soon as they come back from the printers. This should be about 7 to 10 days after the weekend. Do keep your ads coming in, where you can pay via PayPal using a credit card on-line, if you wish.

Free ads for subscribers and the offer of 4x stamps for non subscribers continues as normal, so please send them in for inclusion into issue 29.

Address for advertisements: WHF (Ads), PO Box 5771, Poole BH16 5ZU

This offer is open to UK residents only.

If you'd like a copy of WHF anyway, even though the adverts may not be appropriate to your country, you can sign up online for an electronic delivery via 'desktop broadcasting' which is fairly new technology and will deliver each issue to your computer automatically when released. Payment must be via PayPal for this new service. Find it at www.workinghours.co.uk and click on 'subscribe'.

More updates later, thanks for being there.

Latest Issue Released

Issue 28 has been released and subscribers should have theirs by Wednedsay 17th or Thursday 18th.

Another 1000 magazines will be sent out once printed from the main printing house.

Please get your ads for issue 29 in as soon as possible as the magazines are filling up much quicker than I expected.

www.workinghours.co.uk