Ever had a call from an 0703 number that rang once, and then cut off?
Getting missed calls from 02920822640 or another 0292 number?
Have had multitudes from both, and they share a common link. Both are ’scam’ numbers, but they operate in different ways, and they seem to be on the rise.
0703 numbers look, to all intents and purpose like just another mobile caller, but they hide a very devious surprise. They are actually private numbers, which anyone can lease, and then re-direct to any number they like, quite often a premium rate at 50p per minute or above. This has led to a scam where the receiver (me for example) gets a call, which stops after one ring. If you were then to call back, you would probably here a lot of noise, and someone shouting “hello, hello” in the background as though you have a bad connection. Unfortunately this is just a recording, and having got you to call back, the scammer has now pocketed his cut of the premium rate number charge you have just incurred.
02920822640 is a different beast however in that it is actually a ‘proper’ company, called Communications Direct, who have a computer system that ‘guesses’ phone numbers. A rep then calls you up and tries to sell you a contract phone from one of the big companies such as 3 or T-Mobile. As these are unsolicited, and dubious tactics are used to sell the contracts (such as pretending to be from 3 or T-Mobile etc) they have received quite a few complaints. Try ‘googling’ Communications Direct complaints.
Supposedly we have a regulator that stops all this, but it is useless. Ofcom seems to be far more interested in appeasing big business, than it does in actually doing it’s real job, which is to regulate the communications industry. It doesn’t even have a way for people to complain directly to them, instead pointing them to another site to register complaints about mobile mis-selling. Get your act together OFCOM and stop trying to appease the British music industry.
UPDATE - http://www.craigknighton.co.uk/wordpress/things-to-do-next-week-and-02920822637-calling-now/
10 Comments
hi there, have been getting theese nusiance calls for over a week now, really annoying is that they actually hang up on me when i answer it. now i know who it is i will not bother to answer, page really helpful and worth looking at, its too easy nowadays to get conned!!!!
Hi, thanks for leaving a comment.
I think once the ‘credit crunch’ really bites, there will be more companies employing these dodgy tactics, and with a regulator that is next to useless, more people will get ripped off.
Hi, I kept getting missed calls from 02920822640 and 02920822637 whilst I was working on a holiday camp. I thought I was missing something important. Thanks for letting me know that they were calls worth missing.
Glad my ’story’ was a help.
Seems to be lots of people getting these nuisance calls, as this page and the phone numbers are the most popular term for entry into this site!
Hi Craig, same here, your story was of a real help for me too! Thank God I suddenly had the idea of looking things up on the Internet, and found it. Many thanks from me too.
In my case it happened similar as what maryanne describes above, with the difference that I kept receiving these strange phone calls for a few weeks before, on both my mobile & landline numbers, then they’ve stopped for a short while, then they restarted again, but this time going witheld - by that time I’ve already realised there must be something suspicious about them (it all became a little too obvious), so I’ve stopped answering them etc. Then again they’ve stopped for another short while. But now they restarted, AGAIN! I’m even thinking to change my mobile number, maybe this will work. I don’t even know…
I fell for them at the very beginning, as they were leaving me voice messages to ring back regarding some made up jobs etc (as I soon was about to disappointingly realise). They were pretending to be from some employment agencies and claiming that they “came across my CV online”. The persons leaving me the voicemail messages even knew my name and some personal details, and the fact that I was looking for a job at that time etc, but the ‘jobs’ they were pretending to offer were all bogus and imaginary/made up, they never existed, because they’ve stopped contacting me as soon as things were becoming more serious (e.g. booking a job interview with them & co). I’m even thinking that this might have something to do with some people from an employment agency I went for a job a while ago and then fell off with them etc, and maybe now they’re looking to revenge (they’d have no real/serious reason to, I think I never gave them one, as far as I’m concerned), and maybe they’re all connected and work together with the phone scammers etc – maybe secretly they ARE phone scammers also, as an additional source of income that no one knows of. Even the various persons contacting me, were giving me bogus names & details, and I thought I’d recognised one of them’s voice, it was the same with a bloke’s working for that employment agency I fell off with, only that he was acting under a bogus name. Sometimes they were sending me details of some imaginary jobs, by email as well, but claiming they were from some of the serious employment agencies, when I discovered they weren’t, they were just using some details/data from those companies’ websites etc (and asking me to check online that those companies existed and had websites, if I wanted to make sure about their seriousness), just so they’d appear to have more credibility. Maybe I should report all this stuff to the Police, to the Fraud Department etc; maybe I should try and file a complaint against these persons that I am suspecting… I think it has a bit of everything in it: harassment; stalking; invasion of privacy; disclosing my personal details without my permission; falsely impersonating some employees from various recruitment agencies & acting in their names, stealing data etc. Not to mention bullying and discriminating while I had my attempts in working with them (actually this was the real reason I left for). And so on… I think this is nothing but some sort of fraud, as well. In my opinion, they’re no different than the ones doing phishing or CC cracking/ID thefts over the Internet etc. So, maybe this problem should be treated more seriously by the authorities and tackled as much as possible.
Hello K
That sounds very serious, and you should go to the police. Harassment, and cyber bullying are very much on the rise, and as far as I am aware treated a lot more harshly now a days. Hand over the details to the police and leave it up to them to pursue it. Nobody should have to put up with that kind of abuse and harassment.
hi, i have had a few calls from the 02920822640 number on my mobile, the one time i answered they hung up.
thought perhaps the idea was for me to call back to find out who it was thus costing me a hefty phone bill that they somehow benefit from.
really irritating but atleast now i know.
thanks
Hi, I’ve had lots of phone calls over the last few weeks from the 02920822640 number on my mobile, luckily I haven’t answered it. A collegue told me to do a google search.Thanks for the info now I definately won’t answer any of there calls.
Hello Marie and Caroline.
Glad that my humble blog has been of service
This post and other about Communications Direct and the 0292 phone numbers now gets over 750 visits from search engines per month.
Thanks for the help i just had 1 today hung up after taking the call won’t be fooled next time warned the mrs as well.cheers