There's a lot of nonsense doing the rounds about pushing No 9 and it gets connected to a Premium rate line, we had one a few weeks back and it said 'press 9' - anyway knew it could not do any harm, so pressed it and it goes to another different recorded message, so I put the phone down. We've got BT online account, so checked it over the last few weeks and nothing has shown up: "The Independent Committee for the Supervision of standards of Telephone Information Services are advising people that a current email doing the rounds is a complete hoax.
ICSTIS have taken hundreds of calls from worried people in the last few days who have had the email sent to them which warns them of a phone scam that could cost them dearly.
The content of the hoax email is as follows:
We have received the following information from our security advisors on a telephone scam current operating in the UK Note it is as likely to targeted to work, home or mobile phones The scenario is:-
Your phone rings and you receive a recorded message; Congratulations. We are calling to advise you that you have won an all expenses paid trip to <an exotic destination>.
Please press 9 now to hear further details.
If you press 9, you'll be connected to a premium line that bills in the region of £20 per minute.
If you press 9 and connect, even if you disconnect immediately, the other end will stay connected for a minimum of 5 minutes - at a cost to you of £100 - the message lasts for 11 minutes. The final part of the call asks you to key in your postcode and house number (which has other serious considerations) and then, after a wait of a further two minutes, responds with the message:
Sorry, you are not one of the lucky winners. and disconnects, adding a further £260 to your bill! Unfortunately the calls are originating from outside the U.K. and as such BT and other providers are relatively powerless to act. The only safe solution is to hang up before the message prompts you to press 9
ICSTIS have confirmed that a £20 per minute tariff could not exist and the telephone system could not be rigged in such a way that this could ever work.
People who get the email are advised to delete it immediately, without forwarding it to anyone.
http://itvibe.com/news/1098/