Warning over digital switchover scam

HOUSEHOLDERS, particularly the elderly and disabled, are being warned that fraudsters are using the planned digital switchover from analogue phone services to dupe them into paying for services they will get for free.

The UK's transition from analogue to digital phone services in 2027 will improve call quality, increase network capacity, and enable new features like high-speed internet. However, it will require older phones to be replaced with digital-compatible models and could potentially disrupt services for those in remote areas.

Lorraine Senticle from Wiltshire got in touch with BBC Radio 4’s consumer show You and Yours to warn about an attempted fraud. She has been deaf since childhood and had bought a phone that both she and her husband, who isn't deaf, can use.

Social services recommended the phone to them and assured them it would work fine even after the digital switchover.

Then she had a cold call from someone saying exactly the opposite. “The first phone call I got was round about August time and it was a very, very nice lady, very, very warm sounding, genuinely concerned because I couldn't hear her,” she told the programme.

“And then sort of mentioned that we're going to have the digital switch, which I knew about anyway. And then, and it just went on and it was in that sort of sympathetic way and then sort of said my company will actually provide you an alternative or can actually deal with your phone, but it would cost about £60.”

They wanted £60 to make the couple’s special phone work after the switchover.

“I just said I knew was compatible,” Lorraine told the programme. “When we bought it, it was important to make sure that was clear. The company we bought it from, they made it clear it was as well, as did the social services. So it was all sweetly done and I just felt that my arm was gently being pushed at my back to buy it. I said, no, this is rubbish.

“Anyway, that was first time in August and then during September and up to the day I actually wrote to you, they were getting more and more frequent, very similar phone calls, always by a woman.

“She's always sounded very warm, not aggressive at all. Just very, very, very persuasive.

“It was mean and that company, the different companies obviously did that on purpose. And when I say different, because the voices were different and different names were mentioned of companies.”

She was asked if she thought these were real companies. “Well, I think they're scam companies, personally,” she said.

She contacted social services to report the calls. “I got the impression that I'm not the first,” she said.

Heather Kidd, who is chair of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board at the Local Government Association, told the programme that homeowners will be contacted by their phone provider before the switchover.

“They will be contacted by their provider and usually in writing and indeed, I have been contacted here by my particular phone provider.

“I think there is often a problem in that the letter will come and then nothing happens for months and people forget about it. So whatever happens, the service of the switchover is free, that is the most important message, it's free for everybody.”

Andrew Loughlan from consumer group Which told the programme: “It's quite a complicated picture out there you've got a lot of devices that have got legacy connections to the old phone network – telecare services, panic alarms, burglar alarms – we've heard about people being targeted for those.”

He said the switchover was originally supposed to happen in 2025 but it has been pushed back to 2027,.

“I think that reflects the complexity of the picture,” he said. “But obviously, it's creating a kind of perfect storm, a market for scammers who are trying to target people who are obviously very worried about getting access to important services.”

Phone service regulator Ofcom said the calls are a scam because no one will be switched from analogue to digital phone without being told and no one will be asked for any kind of payment.

The programme’s advice to householders is if anyone receives a call asking for money to switch their phone services to digital, to contact their phone service provider so that they can find out directly from them and not from the person on the phone.