Life is a long preparation for something that never happens - WB Yeats
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Fake laptop email has dodgy 070 number
A FAKE INVOICE for a laptop computer which suckers recipients into making premium rate calls has been stomped on by telecoms enforcer, Phonepayplus (PPP).
The body has invoked its emergency procedures to prevent the two companies involved making any more money until a full investigation has been carried out.
The email usually emanates from a company purporting to be 'Laptops Online Inc' and includes words such as "Order Received, Order Confirmed, Payment Authorised, Goods Dispatched."
The email contains a seemingly genuine itemised invoice for a laptop PC costing around £500. The messages then urges the recipient to contact the company's UK office or '24/7 Tech Support' team.
If you fall for the scam your end up ringing a '070' prefixed number which will cost you at least 50 pence per minute and almost certainly more if you use a mobile phone.
Phonepayplus names Switchconnect Ltd (aka Switch Services Limited) as the network operator and Premtel Limited as the provider of the so-called service.
The body has given itself 10 days to prepare its case and get some sort of answers from the parties involved.
The INQ particularly likes the bit about an "apparent lack of non-premium rate contact information within the promotion of the service."
This is exactly what the INQ has campaigned against for years. Just you try getting your £1.50 premium rate text refund without spending more than that on calls to complain about the mis-selling.
It's also nice to see that luminaries working in the mobile content industry itself have been gradually phased out from Phonepayplus' board and committees. The last to go was Mblox's Andrew Bud who resigned at the beginning of September.
One INQ reader took fright when PPP's CEO, George Kidd, recently declared a potential conflict of interest. But it turns out he was just playing ultra-safe following criticism from the likes of the INQ and the conflict is purely academic. µ
See also ... Mobile rip-offs watchdog changes teeth
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If they call up and you simply explain that they recieved the email as a mistake, are you breaking any laws? These guys are getting more and more creative.

This scam reminds me of some group that used to send fake phone bills to our office. They would always have a detailed listing of calls and fees, with an invoice and an envelope to send the payment. Every month the bill got even more authentic looking, which means to me that there were plenty of secretaries or admins out there that were simply paying the bill and funding this operation. I imagine if there were some fine print on it somewhere that explained that it was a research study or something, and not to pay the bill, it would be hard to call it illegal? It might also say that all money recieved will be considered a donation to the research.
I fail to see how this can be classed and regulated as a consumer issue.
Surely it's a pre-meditated attempt at obtaining by deception.
Why do the regulators Ofcom and PhonepayPlus continue to refuse to refer any of these cases to the police for criminal investigation?