Yesterday I received a call claiming to be from my bank. There had been some suspicious transactions. I became very anxious. All was very plausible. My problems could only be solved if I gave them the username and password for my account. I said for security I cannot do that. They said "Ring me back on this number and my colleagues at the bank will reassure you". I put the phone down on the hook. I did not use the number they supplied, but I looked up the number on the internet and rang the bank. The line gave me one or two ringing tones before the banks familiar taped message giving me the normal 5 or 6 options. I picked an option and I was reconnected to one of the scammers. They went through the normal security questions and then said that they would need to know my username and password. Because I had telephoned them and I was in a total panic about the losses that they had alluded to, I was so helpful that I gave them everything.
What actually happened was that, when I put the phone down on the hook, they had not. Therefore the line was still connected. Then, when I called 2 minutes later, they played a recording of the banks message. and then went through the charade of accepting my call, going through security and then connecting me to their colleague.
On various forums it seems that the line gets disconnected automatically after 10 minutes. It appears that the only solution is to wait 10 minutes before making an outgoing call, to ensure the line gets disconnected. Or the other solution is to make a call to your mother/children or friend and take appropriate action when you hear the scammers play their fraudulent tape of the bank listing its 5 options.
Surely there has to be a way of terminating the call when either party put the phone down on the hook. If there is not one, is it time that the telephone companies introduce some workaround?
As for this 10 minute rule, It may be true in Australia, but is it also true in UK? Or is it a fault on my line/equipment? I am sure we will hear more of this type of fraud in the next few months.
