Anyone who calls you and says they're from "British Telecom" is a crook

Another call this week with a recorded, official-sounding voice claiming to be from "British Telecom."

I put the phone down, knowing this call was fraudulent, as soon as I heard the company referred to  by that name.

"British Telecom" was the official name of Britain's largest Telecommunications supplier for less than three years of its 174 year history, between 1st October 1981 and 12th April 1984, and was used as a trade name for just over a decade from 1980 to 1991.

On 2nd April next year it will be thirty years since "British Telecom" was dropped as a trade name in favour of "BT" although the company still owns the trademark rights to the name so nobody else is allowed to use it under UK law.

It is inconceivable that any legitimate, official communication would use this name. For a couple of years after the branding change it was not entirely unknown for individuals to occasionally slip and accidentally use the old branding, but I've not heard anyone in the company use the old name even informally this side of the Millennium.

So anyone who phones or otherwise contacts you claiming to be from "British Telecom" is lying and is almost certainly part of some scam or fraudulent activity aimed at stealing your money.

Don't waste your time talking to them, don't ring any number they give you, don't reply to any email, don't go on any website they ask you to look at. Just hang up or delete the message.

Comments

Jim said…
I had an email this week that managed to get through the spam filter.

It was allegedly from the Royal Bank of Scotland telling me I need to update my details.

The usual no bank will ever ask for your details online, even if I did bank with royal bank of Scotland which I don't.

I also tend to mouse hover over the links to see if I can get any idea where the scammers are but this one made me giggle. The domain name was
"royal-bs"
9:24 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
You're right, Jim, scams can often be detected by moving the mouse over the email link and it will sometimes show up that the email address came from something completely different to the sort of address the real company would use.

Doesn't work all the time, some of the more sophisticated fraudsters are live to this one, but it's always worth trying if one is in any doubt.

Key thing to remember is if in doubt do not open any attachment, click on any links or ring phone numbers in the email.
8:54 am
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