Prank calls asking you to call 777

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martyyn

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#24537 26-Jul-2008 22:01

I had an odd thing happen today. Someone claiming to be from Vodafone left a voice message on my wife's mobile today telling her that I had to call them urgently on 777.

Her phone is registered in my name, so she told me and I phoned them to be told that there have been a lot of prank calls today telling people to call 777.

What the CSR couldnt tell me was how someone could know that Im the account holder for my wife's phone and how they would know me by name. She said there was nothing to worry about and they were investigating it.

Ive just got hold of my wife's phone and the missed number is 00000 which of course I cant recall and when I listen to the message it sounds like a foreign accent (no surprise if its a help desk call) but it doesnt make any sense.

Has anyone else heard of this today ?

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#151692 26-Jul-2008 23:25

I haven't had anyone like that call me but the 00000 number means it was an international call.

ahmad

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#152032 28-Jul-2008 12:23

heavenly_wild: I haven't had anyone like that call me but the 00000 number means it was an international call.

Egypt perhaps?

VFNZPaulBrislen

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#152036 28-Jul-2008 12:38

This is a prank call by the sounds of it... although if you have the voicemail still I'd like to hear it. And so would our fraud team.

Could you PM me and we can talk about getting a copy of it/time/place etc... the zeros would indicate a VOIP call or overseas call I believe.

Cheers

Paul

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

kiwipork

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#152046 28-Jul-2008 13:11

martyyn: I had an odd thing happen today. Someone claiming to be from Vodafone left a voice message on my wife's mobile today telling her that I had to call them urgently on 777.

Her phone is registered in my name, so she told me and I phoned them to be told that there have been a lot of prank calls today telling people to call 777.

What the CSR couldnt tell me was how someone could know that Im the account holder for my wife's phone and how they would know me by name. She said there was nothing to worry about and they were investigating it.

Ive just got hold of my wife's phone and the missed number is 00000 which of course I cant recall and when I listen to the message it sounds like a foreign accent (no surprise if its a help desk call) but it doesnt make any sense.

Has anyone else heard of this today ?

martyyn, seems like I'm in similar predicament as you.

On 18th July (just under 2 weeks ago) I got a call from a 00000 number. The lady on the other end claimed she was calling from Vodafone, and she didn’t say ‘hello’ or anything, just ‘Is this [my name]’?

She then immediately went on and ask me my date of birth, and telling me that I have an 'overdue' amount of $65.00 and if it would be possible for me to pay off that amount that afternoon itself.

Makes me wonder if this is what you would call good customer service?

I simply can’t wait till my You Choose plan expires at the end of this year and moving to Telecom!

JoeBloggs

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#152047 28-Jul-2008 13:14

The exact same thing happened to my partner a few days ago. Her account was a couple of days overdue however so we assumed this was a courtesy call so didn't call CS. It would be an expensive prank operation if conducted from overseas but the '000000' was displayed as well.

freitasm

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#152048 28-Jul-2008 13:17

Scam alert.

Since we have no idea if these calls are really coming from Vodafone I would like to add a warning here.

If anyone calls you, even if they call you by name, do not disclose any personal information. They might be scammers phishing for more information - information such as date of birth, address, work address, etc is very valuable for people trying to steal someone else's identity to apply for loans, bank accounts, etc.

They do not need to identify you. You need to identify them.

If anyone calls you and claim to be from Vodafone, ask for a name and extension number. Hung up and call Vodafone on 777 asking to speak to this person. Do not call any number this person gave you as it might not be on a Vodafone line at all.

The same applies to people claiming to be your bank, place of employment, etc.

BigDave

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#152091 28-Jul-2008 15:09

I have actively argued with people that want to talk to me when they refuse to disclose who they are or what they want..

Be weary of anyone who is unwilling to provide all details when they call you.. especially if they then ask for details like dob and such...

My views are mine and don't necessarily reflect that of my employer.

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martyyn

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#152115 28-Jul-2008 16:17

PaulBrislen: This is a prank call by the sounds of it... although if you have the voicemail still I'd like to hear it. And so would our fraud team.

Could you PM me and we can talk about getting a copy of it/time/place etc... the zeros would indicate a VOIP call or overseas call I believe.

Cheers

Paul

Ive sent you an email Paul, we still have the message :)

sbaird

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#152188 28-Jul-2008 20:29

I had a call from them to.
it was at 12:03 on the 24th of july.
When i asked them to verify they where from vodafone they got angry and told me i had to call 777.
So i called 777 to ask what was going on.
Talked to Sara.
I was told that they would not look into it and that i would have to contact the police if i wanted it looked into.
Was told that i could not speak to there manager(they where in a meeting like usual, im begining to think they are lying)
They PROMISED they would get a manager to call me back, still no word. Thanks for the help vodafone!

JoeBloggs

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#152245 28-Jul-2008 23:30

Did they ask you any personal details? Did they seem to have a point when they made contact?

jesseycy

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#152250 28-Jul-2008 23:57

Seems like a pretty lousy prank..... What do they "get" from asking you to call 777???

Probably someone who's got way too many Vodafone mins... Wait till they call a 021 telecom number... :P

loryda

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#152258 29-Jul-2008 01:05

Its phishing, just looking for info.

If they have simple details like name, phone number, email address.. whatever (think of the places these can be listed, like, every service provider you've dealt with for example.. data losses arnt that rare) they call and take you through a fake 'security process' which usually involves things like DOB, Mothers Maiden Names etc. If you give them the details they will probably go on to make a random statement, ie your payments overdue (perhaps they think they can get CC info too, double bonus) if/when you protest they just tell you to call 777 to discuss further, who will in turn tell you its BS (depends if the CSRs listen at team meetings) and they are investigating. But it doesn't matter because they already have your usual security question answers listed for another dude to call your bank and claim they're you before moving some money as a payment to your brother who's stuck in Morocco..

The main premise is the more information they can garner from you, the easier it is for them to steal from you.

If they refuse to identify themselves in a way that satisfies you (ask them to tell you something they should know, although if they are genuine they cant answer your security questions for you.. obvious policy) ask them to place a note against your account and say you'd like to call back on their official number, remember though, you will not likely talk to the same person even if it is a genuine call, call centers have like 20 Sarah's..

Either that or do like me, tell them absolute cr*p when they ask any questions that could be used to identify you, if they 'pass' you through the security process and take the call further you know they arnt playing cricket.

Hope helps, our fraud team deals with this kinda stuff regularly.

Alex.

sbaird

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#152304 29-Jul-2008 09:19

"Did they ask you any personal details? Did they seem to have a point when they made contact?"
They wanted my DOB not sure what else they wanted i assume if i had fell for it they would have asked for more

VFNZPaulBrislen

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#152312 29-Jul-2008 09:32

Hello all

IMPORTANT: READ THIS

I've checked with the call centre team and apparently this is a legitimate call. We're using an external agency to make some outbound calls to particular customers and unfortunately they've been somewhat overzealous and confused a lot of people.

Please accept my apologies.

The agency is looking again at how it makes these calls and just what is being said to the customers. They realise that their approach might not be the best one. The call centre has received a lot of calls from customers concerned that this is some kind of specialised, targetted phishing expedition and we were investigating it as such.

Cheers

Paul

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

JoeBloggs

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#152418 29-Jul-2008 14:06

Haha, yes, my partner let me check her voice message from the customer rep and they seemed almost rudely anxious that we contact Vodafone "immediately". Is it for marketing?

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