Monday, April 25, 2005

Telephone 'Slamming'

Scammers in the UK are hijacking people’s telephone accounts by way of a legal loophole. Thousands of customers have had their account switched to another provider by companies using only basic information; name, postcode and phone number. They do NOT need a signature, and instead send only a letter of confirmation, which if ignored leads to the continuation of service from the new provider. Advice, there is none really, since the whole procedure of what’s called slamming is within the law. What with unsolicited texts [SMS], silent calls [usually an attempt to find if a line is active], junk e-mail, unsolicited calls on mobiles and landlines asking if you’d like to get your windows double-glazed or informing you of a fictitious prize, there appears to be no end of this constant harassment. Current laws, as recently implemented in the US, DO NOT go far enough. For more information see the UK Govt website.

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