The Missed call scam is where someone calls you but stops the call too quickly for you to get to the phone. In these cases, some people will call the number back to see who it was and that’s where the scam starts.

The number you call may be a premium rate line or redirected without your knowledge to a premium rate line which can charge up to £4 per minute. Beware of numbers starting with 09 – premium rate.

The call will be answered by an answering machine telling you that you’ve won a prize or any other story just to keep you on the line ticking up the  minutes that you will be charged.

There is also a text message version of this scam.

You get a text message from an unknown number but with a friendly tone.

e.g Hi it’s Tony, I’m back in the area and thought we should meet up. Texting or phoning a reply will be charged at premium rate.

Remember, it you don’t recognise the caller then think before returning a call or message and if the number starts with 09 then that’s going to cost up £4 per minute.

Don’t be caught up in this.