BT cracks down on rogue diallers
6 October 2004
Telecoms giant BT has reportedly blocked 1,000 numbers as part of a drive against rogue internet diallers.
The numbers were allegedly used to download software onto users' computers without their knowledge, dialling premium rate numbers when victims log on.
The rogue dialling scams can leave consumers with huge telephone bills, with some victims charged as much as £1.50 a minute. BT reports that, in some cases, users had been charged at a premium rate even after they had logged off from their computer.
The company said it had dealt with 45,000 complaints from customers in the past three months which had led to more than 1,000 numbers being blocked. A further 9,500 cases are waiting to be resolved.
BT unveiled plans to clamp down on so-called "rogue internet diallers" three months ago. The firm has pledged to donate any money it has made from rogue internet diallers to ChildLine.
The telecoms company has sent e-mails to all its dial-up customers, offering advice on how to avoid rogue dialling scams and is also offering the chance to sign-up to a free service which bars all premium-rate numbers.
Gavin Patterson, group managing director of BT's consumer and ventures department, 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."
Apply for your free web assessment - get a complete health check and optimisation action plan from Weboptimiser, the experts.
Related news
|
|
Leading brand search engine marketing since 1996
Founded in 1996 as an SEO company, Weboptimiser is today one of the Internet marketing sector's best-known and most respected search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) search engine marketing companies.
With a unique portfolio of brand-friendly services, including usability, contextual advertising and web analytics, a pioneering methodology that covers all 4 stages of interaction between a web site and its visitors, we make our clients sites faster, smarter, busier and more profitable.
