Exactly… I know of no possible way of doing this on a regular PSTN phone systems, the billing systems just don’t work like that, if a third party redirects you after the call has been established, it’s a transfer and the redirecting party picks up the bill … yet another piece of likely fake news on sm, in fact the issue here has been the opposite in the past with ‘toll by pass’.
Unlike the web and the internet, phone systems in terms of charging are very locked down and regulated… unfortunately in these days of SIP carrier interconnects (via the Internet) , control of the originating party has lessened… but that can’t affect the billing of the receiving end.
The only way that I know of how that scam will work & involve a super expensive number that pays the scammer is if the call asks the recipient to call back on the ‘special’ number.
Possibly that would be even better if it were a man calling you.
Why do you have an old phone from Mauritania, JOOI?
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That thought occurred to me too just after posting 
Exactly…
At least 3 every day. If I wind them up do i get charged for the redirected call?
These things do seem to be like buses. Last week, I was getting one phishing email per day (thankfully all fairly pathetically obvious) but none this week, thank goodness. By contrast, this particular phone scam seems to have passed me by so far.
Famous last words…
Mark
No… unless you subscribe to call forwarding services and you press the call transfer on an analogue phone, or call forward button on a SIP or mobile phone… there is no way you can be billed.
Unless you have accepted to receive a reverse charge call via the operator, you can’t be charged for receiving a call. (In the UK).
Typically if you forward an established call on an analogue phone you will first hear dial tone, then you will need to enter the called number to forward the call to, and it will need to answered and the call established. This leg you pay for.
I always ask the operator where they obtained my details and would they please delete them from their database, and keep asking (the right to know who has your details, how they got them and the right to be forgotten is a cornerstone of GDPR) - they soon terminate the call and mark you not to be called back.
I got an ‘appstore’ purchase email today for an alien zombie shoot ‘em up blood n’ gore fest. Looked genuine and for that split second I thought ‘which of the kids…’.
Sanity prevailed and rather than clicking the attached Pdf a quick web-search revealed the scam.
Take care out there (was that NYPD Blue?)
G
If it’s an email it’s usually quite easy to check the real email address (as distinct from the display name or address) and then ask oneself the question “Is this well known company really likely to be using an email address with a generic domain in Brazil or wherever for its customer services?”
Best
David
It was Hill Street Blues.
Yes! Thanks. That’s the series I was thinking of but got the title wrong.
G
I think NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues might have been developed by the same writer(s).
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Thank you Simon , just sick of this call. Looking to try some call blocking device. We are Highlands ( just moved in to self build) and they Exchange is two pieces of string and a couple of coffee cups so their blocking facility is a pair of scissors .
Roger
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Alas it’s not just land line, but mobile as well. At least on landline you have more options to filter and control if you are with someone like BT.
Don’t worry if you set it up the blocking is in the core… not at the edge…
A little aside, but if you’re using Mac and Safari go to Preferences > General and make sure ‘Open safe files’ is unchecked - it’s stupidly on by default and file types Safari think are ‘safe’ can get opened automatically even if they’re not - certain malware used to try to exploit this, not sure how much of a threat it still is but I tend to turn it off.
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Wasn’t Hill Street Blues ‘Let’s do it to them, before they do it to us’.
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Hill Street Blues
Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad) saying his trademark phrase, “Let’s be careful out there!”
Conrad died from urethral cancer in November 1983 during the fourth season of Hill Street Blues . The show’s writers wrote his death into the show.
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IIRC the fictional show reason for his death was heart attack while ‘in the saddle…’ 
What a great guy and actor, the heart and soul of Hill Street 
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