Premium Rate Crap
Friday, June 25th, 2004 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanI am pretty pissed off right now.
I got home to find my phone bill sitting waiting for me. Now I only use my land line for the very occasional call other than dial up internet, so it doesn't take long to spot an error. In fat there was a single call logged on the line, to a premium 090 number. At the end of May, it seems, while I was at work, my phone line indulged itself with a 12 minute call to God knows where, costing me £18.08 to boot. I just dialed the number to see what it is and I am none the wiser since it seems to be an incomprehensible recorded voice in a hangar somewhere.
Ntl tell me that this is probably a number that has stored on my modem and is activated to dial these numbers automatically there from. Well quite how that can be is beyond me, since the PC and hence the modem is switched off when I'm not using it; I never leave it on standby.
I am faced with two possibilities - either there is some kind of spy ware on my PC/modem which operates even when the machine is turned off - how that works is beyond me - or someone, presumably a member of the Polish Brigadetm has gained access to my room in my absence and made free with the phone to call an incomprehensible sex line or something.
I am less than thrilled at either prospect.
Do any of the techie types out there know how this scam works, and whether modems can do that sort of thing? It seems unlikely to me if the PC is powered down.
Anyway, I've logged an online complaint at the ICSTIS website and hopefully they will investigate it and get back to me.
Check your phone bills carefully, kids. It's not the end of the world if I don't get my money back, but I don't want to make a habit of it.
I got home to find my phone bill sitting waiting for me. Now I only use my land line for the very occasional call other than dial up internet, so it doesn't take long to spot an error. In fat there was a single call logged on the line, to a premium 090 number. At the end of May, it seems, while I was at work, my phone line indulged itself with a 12 minute call to God knows where, costing me £18.08 to boot. I just dialed the number to see what it is and I am none the wiser since it seems to be an incomprehensible recorded voice in a hangar somewhere.
Ntl tell me that this is probably a number that has stored on my modem and is activated to dial these numbers automatically there from. Well quite how that can be is beyond me, since the PC and hence the modem is switched off when I'm not using it; I never leave it on standby.
I am faced with two possibilities - either there is some kind of spy ware on my PC/modem which operates even when the machine is turned off - how that works is beyond me - or someone, presumably a member of the Polish Brigadetm has gained access to my room in my absence and made free with the phone to call an incomprehensible sex line or something.
I am less than thrilled at either prospect.
Do any of the techie types out there know how this scam works, and whether modems can do that sort of thing? It seems unlikely to me if the PC is powered down.
Anyway, I've logged an online complaint at the ICSTIS website and hopefully they will investigate it and get back to me.
Check your phone bills carefully, kids. It's not the end of the world if I don't get my money back, but I don't want to make a habit of it.