Too Busy For Words - the PaulWay Blog

Mon 29th May, 2006

"Missed Call" scam - DC Marketing

I got a call from 03 8102 9565 the other evening. When I say "got a call" I mean "missed a call", since they seem to have tried for about 0.5 seconds to contact me. A brief bit of research turned up a large quantity of pages about these numbers, and the antics of DC Marketing, who are based in the UK with an office here.

Basically, they ring your number but immediately hang up. You don't recognise the number, so out of curiosity you ring back. They then give a rather deceptive spiel which asks you to ring a 1900 number to claim a valuable $40 prize. The $40 prize is actually ringtones, and while one or two might be free, if you accept the prize you're then subscribed to buy ringtones off them. So as well as suckering you for the 1900 call, the 'prize' is dubious at best and deceitful at worst.

Despite DC Marketing's legal bluster, this is almost certainly illegal, but because it's only poor punters losing their money the police aren't going to be getting involved any time soon. This has pissed a few people off enough to track down DC Marketing - one guy has even apparently hung around their post office box with a baseball bat. I can't condone the violence, but to me it's merely a sign that people feel increasingly disempowered by the law processes and by companies hiding behind legal smokescreens while unashamedly ripping people off with dodgy marketing.

Heads up, y'all...

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