This topic

123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 11:48:16 GMT

I’m trying to get to the bottom of a problem I’ve got with call charges to 123 and other numbers that I haven’t made.

these are substantial, happen all hours, and are happening even though we don’t have a working phone.

I’ve seen posts on here about this issue dating back to 2015, but no resolution. The BT engineer is also completely stumped.

the only thing that stops the calls happening is if I unplug the phone line from the wall, but clearly this is not a solution.

any help/ideas?

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 11:57:15 GMT

@amysheppard52

You may have a crossed line.

Find a working phone and plug it into your phone socket. Dial 17070 and make sure that the number that is read out, matches your home phone number.

What do you unplug to stop the calls being made? Do you have anything else connected to your phone line?

If you have extension wiring, then an intermittent short circuit on the wiring can cause numbers to be dialled. Wiring running under carpets can get damaged, and this can cause short circuits.

If you never use your phone line, then disconnect any internal extensions, and see if the calls stop.

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 12:10:09 GMT

Thanks for your reply. Definitely not a crossed wire. No one would dial the speaking clock 7 times a day every day…..well I don’t think they would! Engineer has checked all of that and definitely not an issue.

if I unplug from the wall - so we still have a line, but can’t use it - this stops the calls. Problem is that isn’t a long term solution and for some reason, my Sky TV then won’t let me watch things on demand.

From reading previous posts I know im not alone, so keen to find out how anyone else has resolved? BT are refunding, but surely this also is not a long term solution?

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 12:34:09 GMT

@amysheppard52

You mentioned Sky TV, so you have the Sky box connected to the phone line? This is not needed any more and can be disconnected.

This is most likely causing the issue, or the wiring going to it. Its not unknown for the old phone circuitry in the Sky box to develop a fault. Check the phone wiring going to the Sky box for any damage. If the problem persists, ask Sky to change the Sky box.

I am assuming that you are a BT Broadband customer and not a Sky broadband customer?

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

NeilO — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 13:52:03 GMT

Hi @amysheppard52 can you confirm what you're unplugging from the phone socket to make the calls stop?

If you can make them stop by unplugging something, it suggests the calls are originating from something within your home.

Thanks

Neil

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:02:11 GMT

Just checked all of the Sky lines out and not connected to the phone. So not that….back to the drawing board?!

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:05:40 GMT

Thanks Neil, they appear to stop when nothing is plugged in, however, the only thing that is plugged in is the phone. The phone however has been ‘off’, as in unplugged from the power so it isn’t charged and therefore doesn’t work.
very strange.

Also no idea why this has started. Haven’t changed the phone or anything.

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:11:22 GMT

@amysheppard52

Where is the BT Home Hub plugged in? I assume you have BT Broadband.

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 20:50:30 GMT

As @NeilO said, if unplugging the phone stops the calls then clearly it's either the phone or it's cable. It's possible that even with flat batteries there is just enough power in them for it to occasionally try to power up, which might be creating noise on the line. Try charging it & see if it stops.

But I'm puzzled as to why unplugging a non-working phone that you don't use isn't a solution?

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 21:11:13 GMT

Thanks, I only recently turned the phone off - trying to save on electricity! The calls have been made since July, the august bill being the first time I became aware, so I don’t think it can be because of the phone.

however I will get a new phone - one that doesn’t need power - and see if that makes any difference.

not having the option of a landline isn’t a solution long term as we have family who make calls to the landline.

When I searched the community chat forum for this issue I noted a number of similar threads dating back to 2015, but none of threads seem to conclude how the situation was resolved. I was hoping someone might have had this experience previously with a solution that could be shared.

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

iniltous — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 21:16:54 GMT

If it’s been proved that unplugging the phone from the phone socket stops the issue , then it seems fairly clear cut that the phone itself must be responsible for these ‘phantom’ calls , but seems to beg two questions , one mentioned , how ( if it’s a mains powered DECT phone that is unplugged from the mains ) is it doing anything in this state , but the other question is why was it left plugged into the phone socket at all , if the mains had been removed and it couldn’t be used for incoming or outgoing calls ?
If the issue only occurs when this unpowered phone is connected , it’s doesn’t matter how it’s managing to ‘call’ , but apparently it is , so disconnect it completely

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 07:29:34 GMT

Thanks. I didn’t unplug the line as such because I had no reason to. Obviously didn’t expect a phone to be able to make calls on

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

snorine — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 11:39:33 GMT

Interesting - thanks so much for this treat and others about the 123 charges mystery. I renewed my BT broadband just over 2 weeks ago. I don’t have any physical telephone for years and the only thing that plugged into BT socket is a BT router, then there one cable from router connected to my smart TV. Anything else i.e. laptops, mobile phones are all connect via the wireless.
i just logged into MyBT and it’s showing 123 charges 50p x4 on 13th Dec 2022.

i.e one of the 50p charge:

Time: 04.32

Country: other

Duration: 01

one other similar at 08.51 with 0.00 duration still at cost of 50p

I have attached a screenshot hopefully it will shows up here, it would be really good to understand what’s causing this as this is the first I had such charge from BT

Re: 123 charges from calls I haven’t made

amysheppard52 — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 18:58:58 GMT

It was so strange. We have no idea how it was resolved and the engineer who came out had no clue either. It stopped though after he’d been out. I did get all charges refunded but it is a mystery I’m afraid!

There are a number of these posts so it’s also strange that BT don’t seem to recognise this as an issue…..

123 phone charges via digital phone

Trilew — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:33:09 GMT

I see that others have been charged with the 123 phone number. My latest phone bill December 2023, has shown that on the date of the clocks being changed in October, I supposedly rang 123 for all of a second and was charged the sum of 50p. My phone line was changed when I updated my contract and against my wishes I was changed across to the digital voice phone. Plus I noticed to make a phone call after that change, the prices had shot up. So I can see why a one second phone call was 50p. But what I don’t understand is why I was charged when I do not use the landline for ringing out and certainly not to ring the 123 number. If I need to check the time I have a radio that shows me the time or I go online direct to the GMT site.
if this is done on a regular basis then it seems to me that BT are getting a nice sum of money for nothing. I wonder how many others have had this happen to them.

Re: 123 phone charges via digital phone

iniltous — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 09:06:18 GMT

There is no variation in the charges made for DV telephone calls compared to calls made on the ‘old’ PSTN system, so being migrated to DV has no affect at all on the price of a call , it’s the same, so if a call is 50p on DV , the same call on PSTN would also be 50p.

If you were charged for a call to 123 ( the speaking clock ) and you don’t have a phone connected to the ‘line’ then challenge it , no doubt it would be refunded, if you do have a phone instrument connected but are adamant that you didn’t make a call , does anyone else have access to the phone , a spouse, a child , a visitor, if absolutely no one other than yourself has had the opportunity to make the call , challenge the charge , it will be refunded.

It’s conceivable ( although very unlikely ) that a fault condition on the PSTN network could mimic a manually dialled call to ‘1,2,3’ , something impossible on DV , therefore the chances of a phantom call are much less on DV.

You are adding a comment to a post that’s over a year old .