25 October 2004

Michael Howard Helps Victims Of Telephone Scam

Michael Howard, Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe, has come to the aid of constituents who fell victim of a telephone dial-up scam.

Mr and Mrs Coakley of Lydd on Sea wrote to Mr Howard in September as they were concerned about the size of their BT bill which contained several calls to international and premium rate numbers which they had not called.

Mr Howard wrote to Pierre Danon, Chief Executive Officer of BT Retail, on behalf of Mr and Mrs Coakley and was pleased to learn that BT have now sent Mr and Mrs Coakley an ex gratia payment of £220.

Mr Howard said:

“I was pleased to be able to help Mr and Mrs Coakley who faced a bill of several hundred pounds due to this scam. I would urge any members of the public who are concerned about these scams to contact ICSTIS [the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services] on free phone 0800 500 212, or write to ICSTIS Ltd., Clove Building, 4 Maguire Street, London SE1 2NQ or visit www.icstis.org for further information.”