Police probe telephone scam after demand for payment

WARNINGS about a telephone scam conning people out of hundreds of pounds have been issued by the police.

Officers are investigating reports that a man claiming to be a BT engineer is calling residents and demanding they pay their phone bill.

When people protest, the man becomes threatening and says he will cut off the phone line.

Many people have fallen prey to the fraudster, giving him their bank card details.

One person reportedly lost £30 a day for a month — so police are calling on people to be on their guard.

One Torbay woman, who did not want to be named, said she and her husband were among many South Devon victims to lose money.

She added: "Somebody rings up and claims it's a technical call from BT, saying you can't make outgoing calls because you haven't paid your bill.

"They said I owed £22.50 but that it'd cost me £75 to be reconnected.

"They said I wasn't able to ring out, and I wouldn't be able to until I paid the bill.

"I didn't believe them, so he told me to try putting the phone down and calling someone.

"I did, and they were right. I couldn't call out. My line was dead.

"He called me back and he was very, very shirty with me, even aggressive.

"I gave him my card number and he was taking money off it while I was speaking to him.

"He then told me my card was declined, so I gave him my husband's card number.

"We later stopped the cards, but they'd already taken £160.

"They're so pushy on the phone and you get flustered.

"I would dread to think that people would fall for this just because they didn't know it was going on."

The police urged anyone suspicious about cold-callers to get an ID number off them and call the company direct to be assured of the caller's credentials.

Police spokesman Alan Mobbs added: "Scammers are becoming more sophisticated and using various means in their attempts to steal from the public.

"By following a few simple rules, such as never giving out your personal details to a cold-caller and never disclosing your PIN number to anybody, you may be able to prevent yourself becoming a victim of crime.

"We will work with the telephone companies to try to prevent this serious of crimes from happening."

Jason Mann, BT spokesman, said his company was aware of such scams and was working to halt them.

He added: "There's been quite a lot of publicity recently about a scam not dissimilar to this one.

"People do sometimes get someone calling up and purporting to be someone they're not, but we would never disconnect someone to prove who we are.

"We'd advise that people never give their bank detail out over the phone.

"If they have any doubts about the legitimacy of the caller, they should call customer service for verification.

"Police have been looking into scams like this in certain parts of the country, and we've been looking into it too."