So-called “Smishing” (fraud using text messages) and old school telephone fraud remain an issue. The telecommunications provider Telenet recent recorded a peak of no fewer than 30 cases that were linked to the same nummer. But how does telephone fraud work and should you do if you fall victim to it? VRT Radio 2’s consumer affairs programme ‘Win-Win’ investigated the issue and spoke to a woman who grandmother had been defrauded of 1,600 euro in this way.
"Congratulations, you have won a travel voucher worth 5,000 euro. Cash it in quickly by calling this private number”. If you receive a text message like you should be on your guard. The number that the sender asks recipients to call is a premium rate number costing around 2 euro/minute. The fraudster’s aim is simply to keep their unfortunate victim hanging on the line for as long as possible. This is what happened to the grandmother of VRT Radio 2 listener Willem.
Premium rate numbers
Premium rate numbers are easy to recognise as they begin with 0900, 0901, etc. Previously numbers starting with 078 were premium rate numbers. However, this is no longer the case. Telecoms providers such as Telenet and Proximus have contracts, sometimes with a third party. The contracts allow those with a premium rate number to charge callers between 50 cents and 2 euro per minute. Many of the premium rate numbers offer entertainment (games, horoscopes) or information (for example football results). Of the 2 euro per minute charged for some premium rate telephone services part of the money goes to the telecoms provider and part to the provider of the premium rate service.
"My grandmother is over 85 and suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer. In December she received an abnormally high telephone bill. She had been calling the same number for periods of tens of minutes and she didn’t know why”.
"Call this number quickly to claim your prize”.
Willem is a Telenet customer. The telecom’s provider scrutinised her bill. Telenet’s spokesman Bart Boone told the VRT that “It’s a typical case of old-fashioned telephone fraud in which you are either called by someone telling you that there is good news. For example, ‘you have won…’ or with bad news”.
Often bad news scams work exceptionally well in encouraging people to part with their money as people panic when they hear things such as “There is a mistake in your energy bill, there is a mistake in your tax declaration or you are the subject of a criminal investigation”. Fraudsters them tell their victims to call a certain number. This is a premium rate number and by getting their victims to call it they are able to defraud them of tens and in some cases even hundreds of euro.
Those behind the fraud try to keep their victims on the line for as long as possible in order to maximise the amount of money made. No real service is offered in return.
Trace and block fraudulent premium rate numbers
Mr Boone told the VRT that “We have an anti-fraud cell that traces and deals with suspicious calls. If we see something out of the ordinary with a customer’s call pattens we initiate a screening process”.
"If we detect something suspicious, we block access to that number”. Telenet also doesn’t charge the fraud victims. Willem's grandmother won’t have to pay the 1,600 euro".
If there have been several complaints about a particular premium number Telenet says that it always investigates. Bart Boone says that "If it turns out to be fraudulent the number is blocked and it is put onto a blacklist and those that run the line don’t get any more cash from us. This was the case with the number that Willems grandmother called so many times".
"We saw that in a short period there were 30 customers' bills that were much higher than they were previously all of which with outgoing calls to that number. We report these kinds of numbers to the telecom regulatory body BIPT and other bodies that are also responsible. It is easier to trace Belgian numbers that foreign ones”.
Telenet adds that it also making efforts to combat smishing (fraudulent text messages). More than 12 million suspicious text messages have been intercepted so far by Telenet’s anti-smishing platform.
Don’t fall for telephone fraud
What you should always remember is if it seems to good to be true it’s best to steer clear. Never call a number because someone that you don’t know has asked you to. You should certainly not call a 090 number. It is important to report any (attempted) fraud to your operator so that measures can be taken and if necessary fraudulent numbers can be blocked.
Top stories
- Transport Disruption to public transport in Brussels Tue 12 Mar 10:06
- Economy Belgium's most expensive street is in Brussels Mon 11 Mar 09:28
- Economy Bus manufacturer Van Hool announces 1,100 jobs losses Update Mon 11 Mar 15:37
- Health Too few dentists back the new Belgian tariff and fee agreement Tue 12 Mar 14:05
- Politics Belgium wants to be heard by the International Criminal Court in the genocide case against Israel Tue 12 Mar 12:14
- Economy Bus manufacturer Van Hool has still not found a private partner. Could the end be nigh for bus production in Flanders? Fri 08 Mar 11:01
- Home News What is the scale of migration to Belgium? And how many non-Belgians are there in the country? This is what the figur... Sat 09 Mar 09:08
- Mortsel Pensioner in critical condition after car mounts pavement in Mortsel Tue 12 Mar 11:32
