Email SCAM 0706 numbers

After receiving the following two emails I deceided to look into what the (obvious) scam was here (as it wasn’t really clear what the gain for the sender was, just that it was a scam).

I first received an email that read:

Hi

As a result your application, I would like to invite you to attend an interview.

You will have an interview with the department manager, Jenny Wilson.  The interview will last about 30 min.

Please bring three reference (if available), as well as a copy of your ID, e.g. passport, Driving Licence to the interview.

Please contact me on 0706484736, in order to arrange an interview.

We look forward to seeing you.

Best Regards

Charles Brown

Then (a couple of months later) today I received the following:

Hello

In regards to our previous email inviting you for a job interview.  We realised we had a problem with our telephone line.  Fortunately the vacancy is still open, we are still happy to invite you to an interview.

You will have an interview with the department manager, Edie Wilson.  The interview will last about 30 min.

Please bring three reference (if available), as well as a copy of your ID, e.g. passport, Driving Licence to the interview.

Please contact me on 0706484361, in order to arrange an interview.

We look forward to seeing you and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Best Regards

Charles Brown

Apart from the fact that the emails are both obviously scams; note the poor grammar and lack of information regarding the ‘job’.  It was a mystery to me how good old Charlie Brown (hey isn’t that a character out of Peanuts?) was intending to make any money out of it.  Surely if you dial a mobile phone number from a mobile you get inclusive minutes and it won’t cost you a bean.  Right?  Well no, wrong apparently; 0706 numbers are not mobile numbers at all, they are premium rate numbers!

If like me you were genuinely registered as looking for a job with a couple of places, and you receive this email; DON’T CALL THE NUMBER.  It is not a free mobile call; you will get through to a bogus company that will transfer your call around a bit (probably to a more expensive connection) and proceed to keep you on the line as long as they can.

Genuine interview invites normally come from email addresses that are not [email protected] (or .com) they have information regarding the actual job (that you must remember applying for, yes?) and (unless you are really unlucky) not organised by a cartoon character.

Incidentally I think I got the second email because I never responded to the first one, I wonder what email number three will read like?