02030265001

congratulations, you have won etc......................

this blooming number just called me. Waiting on a call about a dying relative in hospital :-(. My heart sank when it rang.

Keeping getting calls even leaving messages on answer machine, answered today and pressed 2 got put through to man with American accent even though number is london when i said i wasnt intrested in any holiday they put the phone down on me, im on the tps and dont know why im getting these calls just want them to stop

got one today but must have said something to upset him,he banged down the phone

Just received a call myself, pressed 2 to firstly tell them, no I wasnt interested in my 'holiday' I'd just won and secondly to tell them to remove me from their lists.
I was put through to 'Josh' (or some other generic American named man) and told 'Ok! just give me your name, address and phone number!'
(ME ->) 'Eeerrr Noooooo, you already have my number as your the one who had dialled it and please just take me off the [***] list!!!!!' I put the phone down on the cheery 'american' man.
have had missed calls and answer machine messages from them throughout xmas period, beyond a joke now :(

Hi Katie,

Thanks for your understanding.

Unfortunately we have little to push against at this stage as we do not know who is making these calls or through which operator. We have however involved OFCOM for their guidance and intervention in bringing these to an end.

Kind regards,
Simon
Simwood

Just checked that info out about simwwod esms and sure enough they do have a facebook webpage lmao.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Simw ... 45321268?v=info and their contact number in the "info" section shows as +44 29 2120 2120 based in Cardiff, maybe we should start calling (bombarding) them saying they have won a holiday see how them c**ts like it.

Their webpage http://www.simwood.com/contact.html states to contact them

- by email to team@simwood.com

- via our contact centre. Number available to customers only. (hummm I wonder why!)

- by fax on +44 (0) 29 2120 2020

In reply to my message above, I have just noticed Simons comments who works for Simwood, now I appreciate the possibility that Simwood could be a Victim of this fraud just as much as the rest of us however that raises so many questions.

(A) Simwood is claiming that the number is being "cloned, spoofed ect" isn`t it more than coincidence that out of all the numbers Simwood have allocated to them by OFCOM, the number being "spoofed",  is one that is NOT being used (allocated to a client) at present.

(B) To clone a number, like cloning a car you would have to know the number in the first place I.E you would need to find a car of the same model, make, colour of ect.

(C) If this was a Simwood company credit card that was being Cloned and used fraudulently would Simwood be so slow to respond to that?.

Believe me the questions thrown up by Simon are endless!, but it all come`s down to the same point. At some level no matter how small, whether it being an Ex distruttled employee or maybe a presently employed employee of Simwoods or maybe an old distruttled Client who had the number in the past (even though Simwood state it has never been used) and bearing in mind the number, more than coincidently is not presently allocated to any client of Simwoods (how would the fraudsters know that?).

This started with Simwood one way or the other.

Oh and P.S a technician friend of mine who works within the telecommunication industry has said to me the infrastructure, expertise and technology needed to spoof a phone number to the point it can`t be traced even if it could be done is impractical and near impossible.

And look at it this way,,,,,The company who is calling us (lets call it the American Company) is the one being charged for the call, when we press 9 we don`t get charged for it, that is the reason why when you say "I`m not interested in a holiday" they put the phone down, because it`s costing them money.
And if we are not being charged on our bill for the call and the company calling us is being charged then logically the only! company that would benefit from this is Simwood.

Now as Simon has stated, Simwood has put a message on so if you call 02030265001 you get a message saying it has nothing to do with Simwood.

Now because the (American Company) only want to call OUT! and not Receive calls the divert to the message that Simwood have put on would have No detriment! effect to that "American Company".
For example we can all set our mobile phone to divert all incoming calls to our answering machine, however we can still make outgoing calls with no hidderance.

Now I have to admit I`m 50/50 at the moment, Simon seems like a really nice person who seems to be representing Simwood and under normal circumstances I would have no hesitation doing business with Simwood and looking at things logically and rationally it is possible that Simwood is an innocent victim in this situation, but it is ALSO equally possible that Simwood is trying to throw "the heat" away from themselfs while raking in the money.

Now I apologize if Simwood are innocent in this matter but all I can say is, I work nights I am receiving calls from this number about 5 times a day and it is driving me insane.
Now I`ve sent a complaint to OFCOM and requested! to know if SIMWOOD as Simon has stated has been in contact with OFCOM and made a complaint themselfs, it`s the only way in my mind to know if they are innocent or not and get to the bottom of this matter.

You have won a cruise in the Caribbean - Press 9 now to claim. Ended call immediately.

ive had 3 of those calls in the last 3 weeks.rang ofcom to complain.

Hi people I`m still waiting for a respone from OFCOM about Simwood, you nticed Simon hasn`t responded I have looked into Simwood a bit further and a gentlemen on here was stateing "isn`t it coincidence that we are with BT otr TalkTalk ect, ect" NOW ON SIMWOOD WEBPAGE and I QUOTE.

"We also have primary allocations of UK number ranges from OFCOM, calls being delivered on to our network over our BT interconnect and direct interconnects with other networks." Now we know where that company is getting our numbers from because funny enough even though i`m ex directory and with BT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! these calls have started.

As "sherlock holmes" famous statement goes ,,,,,,Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.

Hi people (sorry my computers running a bit slow tonight so had to repost this message) I`m still waiting for a response from OFCOM about Simwood, have you noticed Simon hasn`t responded yet and I have had an opportunity to look into Simwood a bit more further, Now a gentlemen on here, who made a commment pointed out that "isn`t it a coincidence that people complaining on hear are with BT or an affiliated company".

NOW ON SIMWOOD WEBPAGE and I QUOTE.

"We also have primary allocations of UK number ranges from OFCOM, calls being delivered on to our network over our """"""""BT interconnect and direct interconnects with other networks."""""" Now we know where that company is getting our numbers from because funny enough even though i`m ex directory and with BT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! these calls have started.

Now have you noticed the "BT interconnect and direct interconnects with other networks" part hummm now I wonder where they got my number from.

As "sherlock holmes" famous statement goes ,,,,,,Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.

P.S here`s the link http://www.simwood.com/about.html Check the "Voice network" section

Plus have you noticed that ANY!!!!!!! page associated with SIMWOOD be it on the web I.E.

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Simwood-eSMS-Li ... 45321268?v=wall

http://www.simwood.com/

lmfao even this (look at the address name, Feedback hahaha)
http://feedback.simwood.com/forums/73211-general

you can not in any way shape or form make a comment about them, don`t want bad publicity don`t they even though they terrorize innocent people, it beggars belief. What a company.

when democracy fails, war is the only answer.

Same thing I am off to the Caibbean on a cruise for nothing they forgot to mention whether I get any spending money !!!!! Did not bother to press 9 to ring back to this bunch of [***].!!!!!!!!!

Hi Stephen

Sorry for the slow reply.

You know I totally understand both your frustration and doubts.

Dealing with your first points:

a) It may be co-incidence but is good in a way. God forbid that number was in genuine use as the party using it would be severely disrupted and wrongfully tarnished. They could have picked anybody's number to falsify, it just so happens they picked one of ours and it wasn't in use.

b) Not at all. At a wholesale level telecos can set numbers on calls as required. This is easy to demonstrate - give me two numbers (one to call and another to call from) and we can demonstrate it in about 5 minutes. If you neighbour received a call 'from' you that you had had nothing to do with, it would seem unfair that you were blamed. That is the exact situation here although we're in a weaker position to defend as we are in the business.

c) We have been onto this throughout the entirety of the Christmas period. I am personally devastated at the disruption this is causing to consumers and the unfair damage to our good name. We are responding to consumer mails and phone calls by return to explain, we are dealing with enquiries from other operators and the Police. Unfortunately, there is very little beyond that that we can actually 'do'. Taking the neighbour example above, even if your neighbour believed you weren't implicated you could do nothing to stop him receiving calls from an unknown third party that look like they're coming from you.

To clarify your general point, we truly have nothing to do with this and those consumers I've spoken to over Christmas do seem to appreciate that we're on their side and as much a victim of this as them.

Regarding the technicians comments, this is partly true but we're not talking about tracing here. *Your* telcos know exactly which telco has handed them the call but the nuisance call guys don't have that information. In the case of BT they are making enquiries of their various technical teams to identify this and so far have just confirmed that the calls are coming in from overseas. At the superficial level, i.e. which 'number' this call appeared to come from that is a very easy thing to do and something that can be easily demonstrated.

Finally, regarding our web page and specifically BT interconnect our business is wholesale telecoms so we have wholesale interconnects to other telcos, that doesn't mean we have access to their customer info. When BT pass a call to us, it comes over that interconnect, no more, no less.

I hope that answers your questions but if I've missed anything, let me know. I really do share your frustration and we're doing what little we can directly to stop this. Like I say, these calls are not coming from us, through us, or in any way connected with us other than the number they are faking is allocated to us.

Simon

Stephen,

Sorry, I missed a point: benefit.

Yes, the American company pays to call you and you are quite correct it costs you nothing to press 9. However, 'the only company that can benefit is Simwood' is not right. If one of our customers were calling you, we'd benefit. They aren't and we're not involved in the flow of these calls in any way shape or form and deriving zero benefit from it. In fact I put the cost of these into 5 figures now before considering the tarnish to our name.

Trust me, I want this stopped as much as you and I want to identify the perpetrator both personally and commercially.

Simon

They're still doing it  - I got a call from this number at 7.39pm on January 3rd.

I have been down this route before, scam calls, American company, press 9 and all that. They always spoof the number they pretend they are calling from - once it was one I was using for business calls, so I know the suffering and bad image these jokers can cause.

Ofcom were pretty useless, just saying that the calls originated 'overseas' and there was nothing they could do. I had to change my number, thankfully I was able to recall a big mailshot and put the new number on, not the one being abused.

It would not have affected me in one way, people could still call me on that number when they got my mailshot - but I really didn't want hundreds of people ringing me about holidays, in the middle of the night.

Yes, that's how I found out they were using my number!

At 8.30pm on 3.1.2011 I had from this number (why didn't they withold it?) the "Congratulations, you've won ... Press 9 to ...". Knowing I could not be charged to press 9, I did (I'm the curious sort). Then the line went dead.

I am already registered with the TPS. Anything else I can do>

Curiously, it happened 2 seconds after I sealed a letter of complaint to Barclays Collection Management for their first unsolicited fax this year (I had three last year).