Telstra Scam Calls – An Epidemic
I was fetching my car from a mechanic the other day, and as he was explaining the work done the phone rang. He answered it and talked for a minute or so.
Then he apologised, he said “I thought it was just another one of those scam phone calls that I hang up on”.
That’s how bloody prevalent they are.
I get roughly 5 per week. They outnumber all other landline calls I receive. They are an incredible inconvenience and sometimes get me angry – and that’s not my type. At least I am smart enough to not be fooled. Clearly some are fooled, enough to fund major telemarketing operations.
The ACCC received 84,000 complaints, and that was just in 2012 – I imagine it would be many times more this year, and that’s just people who complain to the ACCC!
The main types of call are:
- we are Telstra, you have been unknowingly downloading illegal files, you will lose your Internet unless you do as we say
- we are Microsoft technical department, you have a virus
- we are Qantas/Jetstar, you have won a free trip (automated)
I wouldn’t call it war or terrorism, but it something like that – foreigners attacking our vulnerable citizens.
What really pisses me off is that Telstra could surely end it tomorrow if they chose. And they choose not to. I’m unsure if it is:
- not wishing to acknowledge fault/blame
- not wishing to spend $$$
- they make $$$ from the incoming phone calls
The thing is, Telstra is a phone company. The number might come up as unlisted on my home phone, but Telstra must know who the caller is. And that means that when they see thousands of calls coming from the same number in the Philippines, they could do something. I suggest one of these:
- phone them and ask who they are calling on behalf of. Ask enough questions to verify them, and cross-check it with their Aussie hirer
- implement a *SCAM (7226) number for people to call and report their last received call as a scam
- require all foreign telemarketing companies to register with Telstra, else their calls will be blocked
There has to be a solution.