General Chat

My Mother has apparently dialled an 0704 number seven times in five days. Only these 7 calls are marked as 'personal' calls on the bill.They cost a total of £18. The 7 calls were made during the day but Mum usually phones family and friends after 6pm - even I get told off if I phone before 6. If she wants the doctor, dentist or optician she makes the appointment when she is in the town and not by phone unless an emergency but she has those numbers in her phone book. I could phone the number and try and find out who it is? Do you think that BT would look into this or would they just say she must have made the phone calls and forgotten about them. Maureen

It's worth getting BT to look into it, as people do get into the green boxes now and then... I'd be inclined to dial the number first just to make sure its not a new number for doc's or anything, though it sounds odd with a number like that.

You could ask them to check,but if the phone is in you,re Mothers name they would need the request to come from her,you could also ask them to 'Block those numbers'. Hal.

Hi, i've had calls like that on my phone bill i just phoned B.T. and asked them if they could find out for me who these numbers were from ,and they did the lady from B.T. was very nice. no bother at all hazel.

I did not quote the full number just the first 4 digits. I presumed it was a mobile phone number as the cost of the calls was high. Mum only knows one person with a mobile phone, neither my sister or I have one, but this number does not match her friends number. Well get to her to phone BT and see what response she gets. Maureen

A 0704 number (aka Follow Me or Personal Number) lets you take complete control over your incoming telephone calls. 0704 numbers are more expensive to call than 0845's, but offer more features. When someone dials your 0704 number, calls can be redirected to up to 3 different destination numbers. For example, you can have your 0704 number send calls to your home phone first, then if not answered, automatically send calls to your mobile phone and ultimately to a third destination number if required. A 0704 number will literally 'follow you' and try each of your numbers in sequence so you never have to miss a call if you are on the move. This also means you can use a single number for home, mobile and office - just one number to remember! 0704 are also rip-off numbers, up to 50 pence per minute. I would swallow the cost of ringing and call it to find out who the heck is at the other end.... sounds like some serious scamming going on there. XXX Sioux

Here's another item I found..... A number of advance fee frauds (419 frauds) are being sent out where the UK contact address is being given as PO Box 42, Peterborough. PE3 8XH. There are a number of genuine charities operating from this address, but none would be sending you unsolicited emails telling you that you have won a lottery. THESE EMAILS ARE FALSE and are attempts to defraud you. It should be noted that as is common with these scams the use of 0703 & 0704 phone numbers is involved (which are charged at 47p), plus the requirement to send the fees through Western Union, both indicative of 419 type scams. XXX Sioux

Hi maureen, what i should have said was that i've had numbers like 0845 but B.T. still looked for me . hazel.

Sioux, Thanks for the info and it would explain why the calls are down as personal calls. Will print the info off and tell Mum about it. Thanks again, Maureen

No offence when I say this but has your mum asked you to find out or are you snooping? Maybe it's something private she dosen't want you to know about. If she does want you to find out the only way to do it is to phone the number. If you asked BT to find out they would probably charge you for making the enquiry.

I had a similar thing with my mum and since then she gets an itemised bill. Never did find out who the premium nubers were that she is supposed to have dialled

This is something my Mum has asked me to find out about. She is in Surrey and I am up in Yorkshire. I have tried to ring the phone number and only get a recorded message saying the caller has hung up. That sounds a bit suspicious. Phoned Mum and asked her to repeat the number to confirm I had dialled the right number. The bill has 7 calls to this 0704 number between the 15th and 20th July. Mum should have been in hospital at the end of that week for tests but unfortunately it was discovered she had MRSA bug in her nose and therefore was at home having treatment. She has checked all the other phone numbers on the bill - from TV repair company - taxi - and every number is known to her except for the 0704 number. I have told Mum to contact BT and try and get this sorted. Starting to sound like a scam. Maureen

all this data protection act thingy gets on my nerves. You probably wont get anywhere with BT if you do try. I had to ring NTL last week about our phone bill. THe bill is hubbys name and the girl on the phone said she couldnt discuss it with me cos of data protection. I said look I am married to my husband and I live with him and we have a password which I know. She couldnt finf the password but then I told her to look at our other account and cos she found the password she would then agree to talk to me. What a load of tosh.......

Yes I check my phone bill and seeing as Im cable and most of my friends and mum and dad are, my calls are free to them after 6pm. so normally dont ring until after 6pm. Except in a morning at work which is BT I always ring mum and dad in a morning to see if there ok. They now have a mobile phone, but always have it switched off what good is that! Yvonne

Maureen, have you tried googling the number? if its a known scam you may get some info from that Bob