British 'rogue dialers' face heftier fines

British Parliament members have agreed to raise the maximum fine that can be imposed against companies that operate "rogue dialer" software that hijacks a dial-up Internet user's Web connection.

Parliament on Wednesday agreed that, as of Dec. 30, companies caught abusing U.K. premium-rate services should be liable to fines of up to 250,000 pounds ($434,281), up from the existing limit of 100,000 pounds ($173,998).

Many thousands of dial-up Internet users have fallen victim to rogue dialers throughout 2005. Once installed on a dial-up user's PC, the applications can secretly dial a premium-rate number. This has led some people to run up call charges of hundreds of pounds.

It's thought that many rogue dialers are spread using Trojan horses contained within spam e-mails.

Last month, Ofcom warned that there was "growing evidence of consumer harm" arising from rogue dialers. Victims include Microsoft UK's chief security advisor, Ed Gibson, who admitted in September that he had been hit with a 450 pound ($782.59) bill after becoming infected.

According to Icstis, which regulates the U.K. premium-rate market, the maximum fine had to be raised because companies conducting rogue-dialer scams would often generate more than ?100,000 before they were caught. Icstis is now examining whether it can impose a separate fine for each individual offense, which could push the actual maximum fine into the millions of pounds.

"Telephony and the Internet are crucial to a modern, global economy. All of us expect to use them without the threat of exploitation by rogue companies prepared to exploit genuine consumers," said Alun Michael, British minister for industry and the regions. "This new fine level helps ensure that Icstis has the tools it needs to protect consumers and build trust in the premium-rate payment mechanism."

The higher fines will also apply to fraudulent text messages and voice mails that tell people they have won a prize.

Graeme Wearden of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[vaujanolo]

Telephone Liability

If someone steals my credit card and uses it, what happens? The
credit card company indemnifies me. If my cheque book is used
illegally, what happens? My bank refunds me?

Telephones are not poor charities, they have a responsibility to
protect their users. If someone tricks my computer into dialingf
premiuym numbers, the telephone company should pick up the
bill., At the end of the day, they are the ones who pay your
money to these roigue traders. If people can operate these
dodgy premium numbers, then the phone companies should pay
the price. If that was to happen, they would make very sure they
knew the legitimacy of a premium number operator before
allowing them to operate.

The fraud should be easy to tackle. The phone companies know
who they are becuase they send them the cheque for the calls.
How else do they get paid???

British telecom, TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!

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Wrong, the perp should foot the bill.

This bill is still flawed. When the perpetrators are found guitly of such a scan the overcharged victims should first get refunds of the charges paid to the perpetrators and then the perpetrators should be fined and jailed. If that leaves the perpetrators in debt then it's the least that they deserve.