$100 call to satellite network on 92 year-old's bill

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jlittle

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Topic # 242738 12-Nov-2018 10:34

My mother-in-law has been charged $100 for a 5½ minute call to the Thuraya satellite network. She may have briefly answered a scam call, but not 5 minutes.

Spark support seem to be overloaded this morning, is this normal for a Monday? Or are lots of people querying bills, due to a lot of these charges?

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Reply # 2124002 12-Nov-2018 11:53

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If she answered a scam call, then she should not be charged. Receiving calls is free in New Zealand (except if you are using overseas roaming on a mobile). If she made the call, then it is up to the person that made the call to know what rate they are going to be charged.

As for the Spark helpdesk, school teachers are on strike in Auckland today, so they may have more than usual number of people taking annual leave.

huckster

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Reply # 2124011 12-Nov-2018 11:59

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I have received two calls from Tunisia over the weekend. A colleague at work has just received one too.

The scam is to get you to phone them back. Was it an inbound or outbound call...?

sbiddle

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Reply # 2124012 12-Nov-2018 12:00

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You can't be charged for receiving a call. She could only be charged if she had made the call to the +88216 country code.

SATTV

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Reply # 2124027 12-Nov-2018 12:20

Is she still using a POTS line?

I have had someone clip a phone across my line before and make calls, we knew at the time as were were not home during this time and the cap was off the plinth outside our house when we got home.

It was not a large amount so we did not fight it, I did however put an immediate toll bar on our line and we never had any further issues.

John

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jlittle

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Reply # 2124083 12-Nov-2018 13:06

SATTV: Is she still using a POTS line?

No, the call was from her mobile number.

jlittle

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Reply # 2124128 12-Nov-2018 13:25

huckster: Was it an inbound or outbound call...?

I've managed to get her to check the call log on the phone, a low-end Samsung. She says "I have found a record of the call in question". I am investigating remotely, otherwise I would be there gathering witnesses and carefully recording details.

solutionz

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Reply # 2124136 12-Nov-2018 13:41

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Well logic dictates must be one of the following:

MiL has returned a scam call (call record should show incoming & outgoing call).
MiL has dialed number possibly by tapped on tel: link on a website etc. (should have outgoing call record).
Malware has auto-dialed number (may or may not appear in outgoing list, look for dodgy apps, virus scan).
Or as to suspect someone else has dialed the number (outgoing call record may or may not have been deleted).

Either way you need to get the call records from the phone or Spark and correlate the time(s) to the most plausible scenario - before blaming Spark or "exciting xenophobic suspicion"...

jlittle

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Reply # 2124160 12-Nov-2018 14:19

solutionz:

Malware has auto-dialed number (may or may not appear in outgoing list, look for dodgy apps, virus scan).

Thank you, I hadn't thought of the malware possibility. I don't think she uses the web on the phone, she uses her iPad for that. But it needs to be checked out.

wellygary

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Reply # 2124167 12-Nov-2018 14:29

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jlittle:
SATTV: Is she still using a POTS line?
No, the call was from her mobile number.

I just looked up spark's rates, !!!!!

How they can justify a $10/minute premium over calling the same number from a spark landline baffles me.....

michaelmurfy

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Reply # 2124216 12-Nov-2018 15:09

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wellygary:

How they can justify a $10/minute premium over calling the same number from a spark landline baffles me.....

This isn't Spark - it is a common scam: https://community.bnz.co.nz/t/wangiri-scam-dont-call-back/29611

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stinger

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Reply # 2124222 12-Nov-2018 15:20

michaelmurfy:

This isn't Spark - it is a common scam: https://community.bnz.co.nz/t/wangiri-scam-dont-call-back/29611

How can a number that "is ‘spoofed’ to look like a national call" be a call that is an international one? Surely, the number is +64xxx or 0[2-9]xxx if it is a national call, or +<not 64> or 00<not 64>xxx if it is an international call?

wellygary

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Reply # 2124224 12-Nov-2018 15:25

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michaelmurfy:

wellygary:

How they can justify a $10/minute premium over calling the same number from a spark landline baffles me.....

This isn't Spark - it is a common scam: https://community.bnz.co.nz/t/wangiri-scam-dont-call-back/29611

Really?

https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/landline/pricing/callingrates/

Iridium, Globalstar and Thuraya:

Cost per minute from Landline : $7.64,

Cost per minute from Mobile: $18.35

hashbrown

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Reply # 2124333 12-Nov-2018 17:36

I got a burst of Wangiri scam calls in October including one from +882(one)6900306.

rugrat

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Reply # 2124394 12-Nov-2018 18:55

wellygary:
https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/landline/pricing/callingrates/

Iridium, Globalstar and Thuraya:

Cost per minute from Landline : $7.64,

Cost per minute from Mobile: $18.35

Spark could increase the price of landline to move prices closer together.
2degrees charges $12 landline, $12.99 mobile from what I could find.

Looks like Sparks landline price is way on the low side to what others charge, mobile on the higher side.

I like prepay to postpaid, as only what’s on phone can come off.
Guessing finding out what time call was made would be a start.

michaelmurfy

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Reply # 2124398 12-Nov-2018 19:01

wellygary:

Iridium, Globalstar and Thuraya:

Cost per minute from Landline : $7.64,

Cost per minute from Mobile: $18.35

Ah yes - now I see. I misunderstood you. Pretty strange...

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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