Derek ^ wrote:
On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:08:07 +0100, Guy King
wrote:
The scammers hope to make lots of money by people ringing a premium rate
phone number. However, these days the numbers get shut down quite
rapidly. The scammers share of the phone charges used to be available to
the scammers straight away, so they could wait till the line's shut
down, clear out the account and disappear with the profits. Doesn't work
like that now - the money isn't available straight away, it's retained
by the telco and is forfeited if the number turns out to have been used
fraudulently.

IIRC that was introduced because scammers had taken to scamming
themselves (as it were) by phoning their own premium rate numbers,
immediately making off with the proceeds, and leaving an enormous
unpaid phone bill.


Damn. I missed that one.;-)



DG