The poor old consumer has to be ever more vigilant these days, guarding himself/herself against rip offs and unnecessary products/services being foisted upon him/her by unscrupulous and dishonest individuals/companies.
Aside form the myriad of companies pushing loans with excessive interest rates, unnecessary PPI products and "ambulance" chasing lawyers it is now revealed that the phone in competitions run by our "trusted" media organisations are in fact rip offs.
This should come as no surprise to anyone, given the extortionate fees being charged per call and the ludicrous odds of actually being able to get through.
Nevertheless, the British consumer seems to be particularly gullible and has spent a veritable fortune on these scam phone competitions.
Finally they are now being exposed for what they really are. The BBC's Panorama programme broadcast on Monday revealed that viewers have been defrauded of millions of pounds on a phone in operated by GMTV's breakfast show.
Seemingly for the past four years Opera Interactive Technology, a company working for GMTV, had been finalising shortlists of potential winners "long before" lines closed.
GMTV has, not surprisingly suspended all phone-in quizzes, but said it was confident it had not breached regulators' codes.
Opera Interactive Technology have denied any wrongdoing.
Panorama claims that tens of thousands of callers had been charged £1.80 to enter competitions on GMTV, but at least 50% of them had no chance of winning.
The programme estimated that since 2003, callers had wasted £10m a year entering the competitions.
The premium rate phone line watchdog Icstis has formally written to Panorama to request a copy of the programme's evidence, which it would use to decide whether to launch an investigation into the "serious allegations".
Panorama said Ofcom has launched a formal investigation, following a complaint against GMTV and Opera. But Ofcom has not confirmed that it is related to the same issue.
GMTV has now terminated its contract with Opera Interactive Technology.
The lesson to be learned here is simple, don't waste your money on phone in competitions.
Showing posts with label phone in scams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phone in scams. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Friday, October 27, 2006
Lousy Call Centre Security Puts You At Risk
Poor security at Indian call centers resulted in the theft and illegal trading of personal financial information, according to charges raised in a report by the London-based Channel 4, which broadcast the results of a 12-month investigation on October 5th.
Channel 4's Dispatches program reported that it has discovered data protection breaches at several Indian call centers. Dispatches claims that confidential information on UK mobile phone customers, as well as their credit or debit card details, have been gathered and sold to third parties.
The Information Commissioner's Office, a UK government data privacy watchdog, says it is investigating the claims made by Channel 4.
"It appears that some mobile phone companies' call centers in India are being targeted by criminals intent on unlawfully obtaining UK citizens' financial records and this will be the focus of our investigation," the Information Commissioner’s Office says in a statement.
Dispatches reporters discovered a phenomenon known as "data farming" in which unauthorized harvesting of personal information is sold on at a profit. The program alleged that some Indian call centre workers are involved in the scam, gathering data from customers before selling it on to brokers.
"What has been happening is that UK customers phone a mobile phone company's call centre, which is located in India, and they are asked for their bank or credit card details as part of a credit check," a Channel 4 spokeswoman said. "For example, they will be asked for their card number, expiry date and verification code, the three-digit code that is displayed on the back of their card. This information is then stored on the call centre's computer system and it is then illegally accessed."
In the program, an undercover reporter is shown obtaining personal financial data from an Indian middleman. The data includes full banking and financial profiles. The data was not taken from bank call centers, but from call centers working for UK mobile phone operators.
Indian IT trade association Nasscom criticised Channel 4 after the London-based TV station refused to show the organization any of the footage before the broadcast. Nasscom called on Channel 4 to co-operate in rooting out and prosecuting any "corrupt" call centre workers.
Source Citadel Advantage
Channel 4's Dispatches program reported that it has discovered data protection breaches at several Indian call centers. Dispatches claims that confidential information on UK mobile phone customers, as well as their credit or debit card details, have been gathered and sold to third parties.
The Information Commissioner's Office, a UK government data privacy watchdog, says it is investigating the claims made by Channel 4.
"It appears that some mobile phone companies' call centers in India are being targeted by criminals intent on unlawfully obtaining UK citizens' financial records and this will be the focus of our investigation," the Information Commissioner’s Office says in a statement.
Dispatches reporters discovered a phenomenon known as "data farming" in which unauthorized harvesting of personal information is sold on at a profit. The program alleged that some Indian call centre workers are involved in the scam, gathering data from customers before selling it on to brokers.
"What has been happening is that UK customers phone a mobile phone company's call centre, which is located in India, and they are asked for their bank or credit card details as part of a credit check," a Channel 4 spokeswoman said. "For example, they will be asked for their card number, expiry date and verification code, the three-digit code that is displayed on the back of their card. This information is then stored on the call centre's computer system and it is then illegally accessed."
In the program, an undercover reporter is shown obtaining personal financial data from an Indian middleman. The data includes full banking and financial profiles. The data was not taken from bank call centers, but from call centers working for UK mobile phone operators.
Indian IT trade association Nasscom criticised Channel 4 after the London-based TV station refused to show the organization any of the footage before the broadcast. Nasscom called on Channel 4 to co-operate in rooting out and prosecuting any "corrupt" call centre workers.
Source Citadel Advantage
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