You receive a communication that requests or prompts a callback. This might be an email that asks you to phone a number to confirm a booking or a missed call on your mobile or landline which prompts you to ring the number back to find out who the call was from.
You may also receive a fax that requires you to fax back a response.
Although most businesses receive legitimate communications on a daily basis, there have been cases where scammers use a premium rate callback number which can cost up to £1.50 per minute from a landline (and potentially significantly more from a mobile). With fax back scams, the sender may adjust their fax machine to its slowest speed to ensure the cost to you in replying is maximised.
Make sure you and your staff are aware of the telephone and fax number ranges used and the costs associated with them before calling or faxing back, especially if you’re being prompted to ring or fax a number beginning with 09 or 070.
09 numbers are classed as premium rate and can cost between 10p and £1.50 from a landline. 070 numbers are 'follow-me' numbers which allow users to receive the calls to their 070 line at almost any telephone number. These are charged at up to 50p per minute from a landline and, because they look similar to UK mobile numbers, are most often used in missed call scams.
You can find out the cost of a premium rate number by using the 'number checker' facility on the PhonepayPlus website.
To reduce unsolicited sales and marketing faxes, register your business with the Fax Preference Service.
You can register with the Telephone Preference Service or the Corporate Telephone Preference Service.
Back to: Types of business scams
This feature requires Javascript and Cookies to be enabled on your browser
Register for email alerts or amend your existing account details here.