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£503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

greytowers
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎26-11-2013

£503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

These calls were not made from my premises.  There is a ticket raised, but after Plusnet accounts stated that it is not possible for the bill to be incorrect because of the 100s of checks which are made, progress appears to have ground to a halt.  Can someone from Plusnet look into this please?
The calls are all 6 minutes long and to three different numbers. Malicious "dialer" program on a pc is not possible as no dial up modems are plugged into the telephone line.  If the calls are correct then I suspect the line was tapped into at the BT cabinet, the exchange, or somewhere else.  A quick Google did bring up a story of a street - not that far from where I am-  where several  residents had the same issue that mentions calls to Guinea Bassau also.  Anyone else had any experience of this, or any other ideas how or why these calls have appeared on my account.
Thanks


40 REPLIES 40
picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,432
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Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Do a quick "walk" of your telephone cable from your master socket to as far as you can trace it onto the street. Double check there are no suspicious looking boxes or similar.
It is shockingly simple to tap into a telephone line and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these kinds of posts Sad
I would also report it to your local Police as it is potentially fraud and they may have some other cases they are investigating.
pwatson
Rising Star
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Registered: ‎26-11-2012

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
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Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Hi,
I've just had a look at Ticket: 88174730. If you can leave this with me, I'll pick this up and see what's happening with this.
greytowers
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎26-11-2013

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Thanks Chris
I have taken a look at the cabling down the side of the house.  Could not see anything odd.  Dropwire is "painted in" where it comes down and does not look to have been disturbed.
I was wondering about reporting to police.  I had asked Plusnet whether I should report.  Think I will visit the staion on the way home this evening.
I saw the Guardian articles, but the Overclockers forum is interesting, especially as the poster is from my side of London.
Thanks
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Yeah, it's worth dropping in, just to see if anyone else in the area has reported it too, let me know how that goes either here or on the ticket.
The ticket is with me, personally now. As it stands, I want to speak to the right people about this tomorrow to see where we are with this, I'll update the ticket as much as I can though to keep you in the loop.
ReedRichards
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Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Quote from: greytowers
... A quick Google did bring up a story of a street - not that far from where I am-  where several  residents had the same issue that mentions calls to Guinea Bassau also.... 

...so possibly served by the same street cabinet as you?  Could somebody have gained access to the cabinet and be tapping into lines there at random?
greytowers
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎26-11-2013

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Chris  - many thanks.  I will drop in to report and see what they say. I'll update on here and the ticket.

The street in  the Guardian articles is in Woodford, not a million miles from me, but not  on the same exchange.
I will contact the poster on the Overclockers forum - once my account is active - to see where they live.

greytowers
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎26-11-2013

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

I tried to report to local police.
They directed me to Actionfraud.  I have a Crime Reference Number from them.
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Thanks for that, we're chasing this up now.
Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Could you please PM me the Crime Reference Number please?
greytowers
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎26-11-2013

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Chris   Thanks for the update.  Very much appreciated.
The link to  Overclockers forum:
I have just started a conversation. They had  the same thing -  £180 of calls to Guinea Bassau - and they are about one mile away from me. I guess we are on same exchange.
Here are some of their calls:
05/07/2014 00:23:25 002454056944 00:01:06 0.9843
05/07/2014 00:26:11 002454056944 00:05:50 5.2196
05/07/2014 00:45:37 002454056581 00:05:25 4.8468
05/07/2014 01:04:13 002454056922 00:05:48 5.1898
05/07/2014 01:23:03 002454055731 00:05:57 5.3240
05/07/2014 01:42:11 002454056686 00:05:48 5.1898
05/07/2014 01:48:22 002454056581 00:05:57 5.3240
05/07/2014 01:54:41 002454055731 00:04:20 3.8774
05/07/2014 02:01:01 002454056944 00:04:19 3.8625
05/07/2014 02:13:41 002454056686 00:05:57 5.3240
05/07/2014 02:20:07 002454056581 00:05:50 5.2196

Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

If they are a Plusnet customer, feel free to point them this way.
As soon as I received the Crime Number, I'll pass this over to the Billing team.
MisterW
Superuser
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Quote
and they are about one mile away from me. I guess we are on same exchange.
Almost certainly I would have thought, but from your details on the overclockers thread and knowing the area, I would have thought you're not on the same PCP cabinet. That suggests someone has hacked at the exchange...

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,432
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Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: £503-22 of calls to Guinea Bassau appeared on my bill overnight.

Or come across an underground cable / node and found their luck was in ......