New Scam

[Iain]

Friends received a call yesterday from someone saying that they were with Telstra and testing the line, 'could you please dial 90#'.
Don't do it, it gives the caller direct access to your line and unlimited calls.

[jackiew]

according to The Age in July 2003 this doesn't work with the Australian telco systems ( implication seems to be that in some other countries this might be true ).

[DanP]

This scam was floating around a few years ago. Jackie is spot on, it turned out to be crap.

Dan

[kiwigeo]

Friends received a call yesterday from someone saying that they were with Telstra and testing the line, 'could you please dial 90#'.
Don't do it, it gives the caller direct access to your line and unlimited calls.
Its a hoax Iain..one of many floating around the net. A good clue is the fact that Telstra would never bother ringing up a customer unless it was to harass them for not paying their phone bill.

One reason these hoaxes get circulated is to provide spammers with active email addresses. Its very likely your friends forwarded you the original mail complete with headers full of lovely active email addresses. Eventually the mails fall into the hands of either spammers or people who compile email address lists which then get on sold to spammers.

I have my email service set up to block any mails that contain lots of email addresses.....I got sick of having to bollock friends for blindly forwarding hoax mails to me

[q9]

A good clue is the fact that Telstra would never bother ringing up a customer unless it was to harass them for not paying their phone bill

Wrong! Just switch to Optus and see how many calls you get from Telstra letting you know you are a special/valued/etc customer and have they got a deal for you. 4 calls in 3 weeks so far...

[kiwigeo]

Wrong! Just switch to Optus and see how many calls you get from Telstra letting you know you are a special/valued/etc customer and have they got a deal for you. 4 calls in 3 weeks so far...
I did and Im still waiting for my first call from Telstra..the only time I talk with them is when the junction box down the street fills with water and my line goes dead.

Actually I lie..I did get a call on my mobile once with an offer of a brand new deal but unfortunately my battery went flat half way through the call and they never bothered calling back.