BT to block premium rate dial-up scammers

[Scoobs]

BT to block premium rate dial-up scammers

Axe falls on rogue porn diallers

BT announced on Tuesday that it is taking action to try and stop customers running up huge bills caused by illicit dialling software commandeering PCs.


Diallers are software applications that are downloaded onto web users' computers to allow access to pay-per-view sites, such as porn sites, but some are being installed without users' knowledge in order to run up large bills by connecting to premium-rate telephone lines.

Diallers are a growing menace to UK narrowband web users. The percentage of internet-related complaints about premium-rate services has risen from 43 per cent in 2002 to 70 per cent in 2003, as a proportion of customers making complaints about high telephone bills, according to the industry's regulator, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS).

According to a BT spokesperson, the company's customer service investigation team will compile a database of premium rate numbers used by rogue dialling software. The BT Wholesale team will then be able to instruct the exchange to block the number for retail customers.

The move will only protect people who use BT as their telephone provider.

“Cable customers have a different network, and carrier pre-select operators will have to make their own decisions,” said a BT spokesperson.

BT says it will give up any revenue generated from customers defrauded in this way, although the sums involved are small. The lion's share of the charges associated with such services go to the service operator rather than carriers such as BT. The company says that when a £100 bill is run up by a dialler, BT’s share is £1.85. The unfortunate victims of dialling scams will still have to try and recover the bulk of their lost funds from the service provider.

The company hopes its new approach will shut down corrupt services quickly, given the delays associated with trying to prosecute the people running corrupt premium rate lines, who are frequently offshore, hard to locate, and very difficult to prosecute.

Gavin Patterson, BT's group managing director for Consumer and Ventures, said in a statement: “We need to minimise the number of customers being affected as quickly as we can and we can’t allow any more of our customers to fall victim while the sometimes lengthy investigative process gets underway.”

The company is also offering a free premium rate call block on all customer lines to prevent others from falling victim.

Michael Parsons writes for ZDNet UK

source silicon.com

[silver]

abt time BT did something

I think they should prolly make you opt-in to premium rate numbers or have some kind of forced user interaction whenever an expensive line is called.

Sil

[gem]

From The Register

BT cuts off dialler scammers
By John Oates
Published Wednesday 30th June 2004 15:04 GMT

BT is taking action against rogue dialler companies which defraud consumers by secretly changing their computer settings so they call a premium rate phone line instead of their usual ISP number.

Diallers are used by websites selling expensive content - usually pornographic. To access the site, browsers must first install software which changes computer settings so the website is accesssed via a premium rate phone line. This isn't a problem - so long as the software properly tells the consumer what is going on But many diallers give no warnings and users can quickly run up huge phone bills. An estimated 19,000 BT customers have been stung by rogue diallers, and the problem is growing.

BT will block access to any premium number it believes is being used by "rogue dial-ups". It will do this straight away, rather than wait for regulators to take action.

Independent Committee for the Supervision of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS), the regulater of premium rate services, is supporting BT's action. Rogue diallers represented 43 per cent of Internet-related premium rate complaints received by ICSTIS in 2002; by 2003 this had risen to 70 per cent.

BT will also offer subscribers a free block on calling premium lines. A removable block on your line will cost £1.75 a month.

The telco said it would not make any money out of rogue dialling software. Although the bulk of charges go to the service provider, BT will donate its percentage of charges to the charity ChildLine.

BT will also do more to warn customers about the problem. ®

And about time to!

[Zer02004]

It seems that the pressure is paying off:

Dial-up fraud has many victims in UK

By Online Staff
June 25, 2004

Anti-virus developer Sophos has reported about an increasing number of internet users who have fallen victim to premium-rate telephone fraud, according to a statement on the company's website.

Sophos has quoted UK's telephone industry regulator, ICSTIS, as saying it has been receiving a hugh number of complaints from users who have received excessive phone bills having been hit by Trojan horses on their computer, which have taken over their PC's modem connection to make calls to premium-rate numbers.

The regulator has asked the National Hi-tech Crime Unit to investigate the claims, many of which appear to be about premium-rate "adult" phone services based in Moldova.

Senior technology consultant for Sophos explained in a statement, "A Trojan horse, secretly installed upon your computer, can change your internet settings so you always use a premium-rate number rather than your regular ISP's dial-up code."

"Often these premium-rate diallers are installed to allow you access to an adult pornographic website, but they may also be used by others who are less upfront about how they intend to change the settings on your computer," he said.


Broadband users are safe as only computer users who still connect to the internet via a dial-up modem could face this problem, Sophos warned. Users, the company advises, should be careful about the software they allow to run on their computer. Broadband users, however, should also check whether their computer still has a dial-up modem connected to a telephone line, which could be exploited by this type of attack.

British Telecom has issued an advisory on its website, telling customers how to avoid such frauds. British users who have suffered from expensive premium-rate services can file a complaint on ICSTIS's website.

The Age

[Alphabetex]

Well let me tell BT right now ..........


If any rogue dialler notches up anything from 1p to £1000 or above (and I'm not talking about BT's "share" either) on my system I will never pay a single ha penny towards it. As far as I'm concerned BT issue the number to the rogue organisations and therefore in any just society should bear the costs involved to the full extent, ballocks to any high court judge in the land that would rule otherwise too!......

They willl not get a single ha-penny from me (whilst I draw breath at least) and I'd defend that right to the death, so any asshole bailiffs kindly take note .........I'll be very happy to remove their hands, arms or indeed their life to protect that ha penny or any of my property from any such thieves.

[gem]

This subjest was on (again) in the TV news - even being 'mentioned' in parliament (but not discussed in the house, yet!).
Gathering speed at any rate.

[Worldlife]

Great to read that progress is being made to deal with this - petty the police don't tackle it as fraud though.

[gem]

Welcome back Vic.

About time you changed your 'sig'.