Technology Vault - NewsBytes

Tuesday 5 October, 2004

BT Blocks Internet diallers by turnitonagain @ 3:27 pm

BT have followed suit of Ireland and blocked 1000 rogue internet dialler numbers. This is an effort to try and reduce the number of people being stung by dialler scams.

BT's dial-up customers should already have received a warning email and a second mail is being prepared to keep users up to date on how not to be caught out. Since July, 50,000 customers have taken up BT's free offer of premium rate call barring.

BT have already had to deal with 45,000 cases where users have been 'infected' with a dialler, and there are 9,500 more cases still pending. BT makes approximately 3p from every £1.50 a minute charge, but they have pledged to give this money to charity (Childline, for those interested) so as not to profit from the dialler scams.

Gavin Patterson, the group managing director of Consumer and Ventures said: "BT is doing everything in its power to stop this menace.

"We have taken the decision to block numbers suspected of being associated with diallers as soon as we are alerted to a problem. We have offered free premium rate barring to all customers, and a removable bar for premium rate and international calls for £1.75 a month. We have made it clear that we are not the ones profiteering from people's misfortune. In fact, we will continue to forego our share of the call revenue generated by these disputed calls."

As usual, we peddle the same old mantras; but some people still don't listen! An up to date virus checker is a must (AVG and Avast are 2 that are freely available) and spyware removal software is also very important (Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy to name but 2).

Although blocking these 1000 odd numbers is a start, more are bound to replace them. This is why BT are asking for restrictions to be tightened up as to who gets a premium rate number to conduct their business. In the mean time, people should be keeping a very close eye on their phone bills...

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