Oftel cracks down on telephone scams

NEWS Oftel has cracked down on a scam using so-called "find me anywhere numbers" starting with 070. 070 numbers are used to forward calls to landlines or mobiles, typically by businessmen who are constantly on the move, and calls made to these numbers are charged at a higher rate. Unscrupulous people have been setting up 070 numbers and having part of the extra charge paid to them - Making easy cash while callers to their numbers end up with unusually high bills. The most common scam involved faxes, and sex chatlines had also been using 070 numbers to escape the regulations that apply to 09 premium numbers. 070 numbers can still be used, but revenue sharing will be banned, so the financial incentive to abuse them has now been taken away. The changes will be made in a few weeks. Until then, Oftel recommends caution when sending long faxes to 070 numbers.