Free Internet Dialup Telephone Fraud

Save your self from premium rate telephone fraud.

If you are using your telephone to connect to internet then you need to very careful. A major population of internet users in UK still uses modem to connect to internet. They are being threatened by a new type of scam: premium rate telephone fraud.

A lot of dial up uses access porn web sites. What most of them does not know is that these web sites are often full of harmful material such as viruses. These viruses often install themselves in your computer and then make you a victim of premium rate telephone fraud.

The threat is so increased that the UK's telephone industry regulator, ICSTIS, has warned consumers of the increasing number of internet users who have fallen victim to premium rate telephone fraud. The reason is that, ICSTIS has received a surge in complaints from users who have received excessive phone bills.

These people are basically hit by Trojan horses on their computer. These are the viruses that are used to make long distance calls from your telephone lines. They take over your PC's modem connection to make calls to premium-rate numbers.

The increase in complaints has forced ICSTIS to ask the National Hi-tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) to investigate the claims, many of which appear to be about premium-rate "adult" phone services.

In 2003, the percentage internet-related complaints about premium-rate services as a proportion of the total number of customers making complaints about high telephone bills were 70 per cent. This is a very steep rise from 2002, when it was 43 per cent, according to ICSTIS.

A Trojan horse, secretly installed upon your computer, can change your internet settings so you always use a premium-rate number rather than your regular ISP's dial-up code. Often these premium-rate dialers are installed to allow you access to an adult pornographic website, but they may also be used by others who are less upfront about how they intend to change the settings on your computer.

This scam is mostly observed in the users that uses dial up services and it is not likely to affect broadband users. So, internet users who still connect to the internet via a dial-up modem in UK needs to be more careful about the access number they are using. Anti-virus software can detect known Trojan horses that secretly change dial-up settings. They should be performing regular virus scans to see if a Trojan virus has not affected threat computer. Also, dial up uses are also advised to be very careful about software they allow to run on their computer.

Broadband users may relax a little bit. However, they should check whether their computer still has a dial-up modem connected to a telephone line. If it is then they are also prone to this type of attack.

All computer users should keep their virus protection fully updated to protect against the virus attacks. UK internet users who have suffered from expensive premium-rate services can file a complaint on ICSTIS's website.

Be aware of dial-up internet long distance scams

A large number of consumers using their local telephone line to connect to the Internet in the UK end up having telephone bills a lot more then they expect. The reason may be that they have fallen victim to telephone fraud.

But if there are no viruses found on your system then chances are that you are unknowingly using a long distance access number and end up being charged much more than the cost of a local call.

Without their knowledge, their internet access numbers are being redirected to web sites that disconnect their telephone line from their local Internet Service Provider. They are then reconnected to an expensive per minute international line in remote country often in south America.. The result is that the consumers receive phone charges several times more then the call they made to connect to internet, routed to international destinations without their knowledge.

The other reason as referred above, in some cases, computer viruses may cause this scam. These viruses first appear in very innocent form. When customers are surfing internet, more often the customer received an offer, through a "pop-up window" for what appears to be free games or adult materials. A lot of people do surf porn sites, so they accept these offers and download the offers. But when they downloaded the free programs, the software secretly redirected their dial-up connection to another ISP containing the harmful material. The result...all their web surfing then took place over expensive per-minute long distance lines!

Computer users should take precautions to avoid these Internet dialing scams. Here are some tips:

1. Pay attention to the websites you're visiting and any pop-up windows that may appear. Be sure to look for any warnings on websites that include a request to switch you to an international telephone number and collect fees
2. Examine your bill carefully. If you see unfamiliar charges on your bill, contact your long-distance telephone company immediately.
3. Be sure that you have latest virus scanning software to protect your computer. Keep it updated time to time. Computers may be scammed from some online free of charge web site.
4. Check the dial-up connection to ensure a local call is being made when you connect to your ISP. The telephone number typically appears in an on-screen window as you connect to the Internet.
5. If you do not make any international long-distance calls, then have your local telephone company place an international block on your account. There may be a fee for this service. But it will save you from getting scammed.

These few steps will save you a lot of money that these scammers take away from you.