19-07-2020, 04:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 19-07-2020, 04:05 PM by pamphonica.)
When I joined Post Office Telephones phone hacking could only be prosecuted under the grand offence of "Conspiring to misappropriate Her Majesty's Post Master General's electricity"!
Actually phone companies nowadays often themselves get defrauded by the fraudsters. They take up an account with forged references from rented premises, pay a small up-front charge, then run up huge bills making vast numbers of voice phishing calls before the first billing period, then disappear. Been on the wrong end of that sort of "customer" behaviour!
I'm afraid I don't agree that phone companies are majorly culpable, or even complicit. Whereas Facebook or Twitter can see every message and can thus monitor and shut down crime, phone companies find it much harder. Even caller ID can be spoofed. Where they are made aware, action is usually swift, driven by good financial as well as moral imperatives. They are no more culpable than the electricity company for powering the fraudsters' computers, Costa Coffee for keeping their caffeine addiction fuelled, Royal Mail for financial scam mail or the global internet fibre carriers for spreading the fraudster's message worldwide.
I'm afraid it's up to better public education, personal awareness, enhanced cyber-crime policing and prosecution, and a general willingness to shout about scams rather than accepting them. Thanks Mike for shouting about this one!
My personal two pennyworth (not by any means representing BVWS).
Actually phone companies nowadays often themselves get defrauded by the fraudsters. They take up an account with forged references from rented premises, pay a small up-front charge, then run up huge bills making vast numbers of voice phishing calls before the first billing period, then disappear. Been on the wrong end of that sort of "customer" behaviour!
I'm afraid I don't agree that phone companies are majorly culpable, or even complicit. Whereas Facebook or Twitter can see every message and can thus monitor and shut down crime, phone companies find it much harder. Even caller ID can be spoofed. Where they are made aware, action is usually swift, driven by good financial as well as moral imperatives. They are no more culpable than the electricity company for powering the fraudsters' computers, Costa Coffee for keeping their caffeine addiction fuelled, Royal Mail for financial scam mail or the global internet fibre carriers for spreading the fraudster's message worldwide.
I'm afraid it's up to better public education, personal awareness, enhanced cyber-crime policing and prosecution, and a general willingness to shout about scams rather than accepting them. Thanks Mike for shouting about this one!
My personal two pennyworth (not by any means representing BVWS).
Jeremy. G8MLK. BVWS Chairman. British Vintage Wireless and TV Museum Friend.
Pamphonic Website ______________ BTTT OB Truck Restoration
Pamphonic Website ______________ BTTT OB Truck Restoration
