Unauthorised mobile calls on our landline; what's happening??

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Unauthorised mobile calls on our landline; what's happening??

Dangermouse

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#143718 24-Apr-2014 14:26

I've been with Orcon for at least the last ten years and have been very happy with the service generally. Have run into a bit of bother though with my last billing period when a large number of unauthorised mobile calls appeared on our bill as having been made from our landline, to the tune of $70. Looking back, the number of unauthorised calls started as far back as January (2 calls), with 34 calls in Feb and then 49 in March. The calls seem to have stopped appearing after March 25th. Lots of different mobile numbers appear although there were 43 calls associated with one particular number and 18 to another, 23 of the calls were under 5 seconds duration, many for only one or two seconds duration and often within minutes of each other.

Needless to say, we didn't make the calls from our landline, there are only two of us in the property with no kids, flatmates or guests staying and we don't recognise any of the numbers. We both have mobile plans anyway which include free voicecalls so would use those services for mobile calls in any case. The unauthorised calls don't appear to be legitimate telephone activity, certainly not by ourselves.

I'm not here to bag Orcon particularly, just hoping for some advice really about what to do. Orcon for their part have looked into it and couldn't find anything untoward at the exchange or with the line itself.

Any suggestions as to how these charges could have appeared on our account? Is it possible to harbour some kind of computer virus to allows a landline to be hijacked for this sort of thing? Is that even possible?

Sanitised details of the calls below in case anyone can spot something obvious. Your thoughts would be very welcome.

- DM

Do not lead me, for I may not follow. Do not follow me, for I may not lead. Do not walk beside me either; actually just bugger off and stand over there will you.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1041

Trusted

Vocus

#1030609 24-Apr-2014 14:28

It's a little strange to be sure. Would you mind DM (haha) me your orcon username or the number involved?

gregmcc

2173 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 836

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1030615 24-Apr-2014 14:34

Why don't you try ringing the frequent numbers and explain to whoever answers what is going on, see if you can get some information about who may have been ringing them.

It does kind of seem to me that for a peroid of time 2 different addresses were fed the same phone line and the other address took advantage of this and made lots of calls to cell phones, eventually it looks like the mistake was fixed.

For now dispute the charges with Orcon, until it can be resolved who made the calls.

FireEngine

1223 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 221

Trusted

#1030626 24-Apr-2014 14:42

Dangermouse: I've been with Orcon for at least the last ten years and have been very happy with the service generally. Have run into a bit of bother though with my last billing period when a large number of unauthorised mobile calls appeared on our bill as having been made from our landline, to the tune of $70. Looking back, the number of unauthorised calls started as far back as January (2 calls), with 34 calls in Feb and then 49 in March. The calls seem to have stopped appearing after March 25th. Lots of different mobile numbers appear although there were 43 calls associated with one particular number and 18 to another, 23 of the calls were under 5 seconds duration, many for only one or two seconds duration and often within minutes of each other.

Needless to say, we didn't make the calls from our landline, there are only two of us in the property with no kids, flatmates or guests staying and we don't recognise any of the numbers. We both have mobile plans anyway which include free voicecalls so would use those services for mobile calls in any case. The unauthorised calls don't appear to be legitimate telephone activity, certainly not by ourselves.

I'm not here to bag Orcon particularly, just hoping for some advice really about what to do. Orcon for their part have looked into it and couldn't find anything untoward at the exchange or with the line itself.

Any suggestions as to how these charges could have appeared on our account? Is it possible to harbour some kind of computer virus to allows a landline to be hijacked for this sort of thing? Is that even possible?

Sanitised details of the calls below in case anyone can spot something obvious. Your thoughts would be very welcome.

- DM

We will look into it from here, it isn't a physical line or exchange issue. Your phone service is a resold product, we will talk to the provider (who passes us the call details for billing) to investigate.

Regards FireEngine

Dangermouse

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#1030639 24-Apr-2014 14:56

gregmcc: It does kind of seem to me that for a peroid of time 2 different addresses were fed the same phone line and the other address took advantage of this and made lots of calls to cell phones, eventually it looks like the mistake was fixed.

For now dispute the charges with Orcon, until it can be resolved who made the calls.

An interesting point you make as around the same time we were experiencing problems with the landline in the form of open lines, no dial tone on occasion and incoming calls also connecting to additional parties (i.e. an incoming call to our number will also ring and connect elsewhere). We had also been told of by people trying to call our number that it is being misdirected to other lines. I doubt this is entirely coincidental... We contacted Orcon who got Chorus to take a look but nothing untoward was found and that particular problem appears to have resolved itself (although so too have the unauthorised calls on the bill funnily enough...).

I have disputed the calls with Orcon and cancelled my direct debit, as my initial response was that no way was I paying for these calls. Again, I'm not here to bag Orcon in any way on a public forum, I am just seeking opinions from clued-up users as to what the source of the calls could be. Orcon have been fully cooperative and have looked for any faults in the line.

Do not lead me, for I may not follow. Do not follow me, for I may not lead. Do not walk beside me either; actually just bugger off and stand over there will you.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1041

Trusted

Vocus

#1030642 24-Apr-2014 15:04

Dangermouse:
gregmcc: It does kind of seem to me that for a peroid of time 2 different addresses were fed the same phone line and the other address took advantage of this and made lots of calls to cell phones, eventually it looks like the mistake was fixed.

For now dispute the charges with Orcon, until it can be resolved who made the calls.

An interesting point you make as around the same time we were experiencing problems with the landline in the form of open lines, no dial tone on occasion and incoming calls also connecting to additional parties (i.e. an incoming call to our number will also ring and connect elsewhere). We had also been told of by people trying to call our number that it is being misdirected to other lines. I doubt this is entirely coincidental... We contacted Orcon who got Chorus to take a look but nothing untoward was found and that particular problem appears to have resolved itself (although so too have the unauthorised calls on the bill funnily enough...).

I have disputed the calls with Orcon and cancelled my direct debit, as my initial response was that no way was I paying for these calls. Again, I'm not here to bag Orcon in any way on a public forum, I am just seeking opinions from clued-up users as to what the source of the calls could be. Orcon have been fully cooperative and have looked for any faults in the line.

Hi Again,

We are looking into this, and someone will be in touch.

Cheers

Dan

FireEngine

1223 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 221

Trusted

#1030675 24-Apr-2014 15:42

Looks like the other party involved had already reported and resolved this, hence the calls stopping. I have arranged for the disputed calls to be credited.

Regards FireEngine

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

Zeon

3926 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 759

Trusted

#1030718 24-Apr-2014 17:01

It's so easy to hook into someone elses analogue phone line to make calls.....

Speedtest 2019-10-14

ajobbins

5053 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1279

Trusted

#1030747 24-Apr-2014 17:57

So what was the cause in the end?

Twitter: ajobbins

FireEngine

1223 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 221

Trusted

#1030760 24-Apr-2014 18:29

ajobbins: So what was the cause in the end?

No idea, another party reported it to their service provider.....but since then the issue has completely gone....by the time we rolled a tech in response to his report the line etc was clean.

Edited to add: Chorus quite rightly won't share fault resolution information for a circuit/customer that isn't Orcon's so we can't investigate further.

Regards FireEngine

Dangermouse

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#1030814 24-Apr-2014 21:10

Zeon: It's so easy to hook into someone elses analogue phone line to make calls.....

This of course was a worry and a concern for us given the odd nature of many of the calls.

Anyway, it appears our issue is now resolved to my satisfaction and I would really like to thank you Orcon guys for looking into this for me today, kudos to you for that. It would have been nice to have an earlier resolution; I initially queried the account on March 25 and really all I got back was 'there's nothing wrong with the line pay your bill please'. It seems now this was not the case.

But thank you Orcon, I remain a loyal customer :-)

Do not lead me, for I may not follow. Do not follow me, for I may not lead. Do not walk beside me either; actually just bugger off and stand over there will you.

FireEngine

1223 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 221

Trusted

#1030818 24-Apr-2014 21:18

Dangermouse:
Zeon: It's so easy to hook into someone elses analogue phone line to make calls.....

This of course was a worry and a concern for us given the odd nature of many of the calls.

Anyway, it appears our issue is now resolved to my satisfaction and I would really like to thank you Orcon guys for looking into this for me today, kudos to you for that. It would have been nice to have an earlier resolution; I initially queried the account on March 25 and really all I got back was 'there's nothing wrong with the line pay your bill please'. It seems now this was not the case.

But thank you Orcon, I remain a loyal customer :-)

If you have a ticket reference for the original query and credit request you put in could you PM it to me please?

Regards FireEngine

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

Dangermouse

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#1030834 24-Apr-2014 21:42

Done. Ta.

Do not lead me, for I may not follow. Do not follow me, for I may not lead. Do not walk beside me either; actually just bugger off and stand over there will you.