Perils of the internet

But now her Web surfing has been soured by so-called rogue diallers - computer viruses which secretly connect users to premium rate phone numbers.

Some of the programmes can unhook users and re-link them to the expensive lines without any indication to the user.

Other firms require web surfers to grant their permission but many people who have come a cropper have fiercely denied they were ever told they would be hooked up to a new extortionate server.

Customers only realise they have been victims of the scam when their telephone bill lands on their mat.

Between them the various premium rate firms, whether operating inside or outside the law, have forced UK consumers to cough up £10m this year alone.

Now Watchdog Icstis is currently investigating 68 firms for alleged malpractice, many of which are based overseas but operating in the UK market.

Meanwhile telephone companies are issuing a firm message to the unfortunate victims of this practice: "You must pay up."

But Dorothy, of Queensway, Southampton, is now refusing to pay One.Tel for the £92.26 of premium rate calls she has been charged for.

She said: "I'm going to leave One.Tel and refuse to pay the bill. I work out my pension according to what I'm doing and that really came out of the blue.

"I don't feel I should pay that. And One-Tel shouldn't pass on this money to the premium rate companies either. It's ridiculous.

"I've only been using the Internet for a couple of months. I was bored to death because I've become a widow and I had nothing else to do.

"I've a sister in New Zealand so I used it to contact her.

"I'm worried every time I turn the computer on now. My computer's got anti-virus software and everything.

"I blamed One.Tel first of all even though they are just passing on the bill. I think they have got to keep an eye on the phone bill. Why don't they ring me up and say: "Why have you got this call to a premium rate line on your bill?"

But a spokesman for One.Tel said it would be impossible to check every bill individually for suspicious call patterns.

Yet Dorothy is not alone. Dozens of angry members of the public have contacted the Daily Echo since the news first broke about the rogue diallers.

Elaine Chivers - who was stung for a staggering £660 - was so incensed she has launched a campaign.

She intends to lobby Tony Blair with evidence she is currently gathering from other victims of the scam.

She said: "The Prime Minister doesn't know it yet but he's going to get a visit. But I need much more information.

"Once I've got enough case studies I will go and see Mr Blair. Something needs to be done. I will tell him that the law needs to be changed, that rogue dialling needs to be made illegal.

"We've got to do something to stamp this out. When people are getting rid of their computers when it's their only means of contact with their family it's a sad situation."

Mrs Chivers is, like many dialler victims, frustrated with consumer protector Icstis.

She said: "I haven't found them much use. I wanted to complain about a company behind one of the numbers on my phone bill but they refused.

"The woman said 'We've already investigated that company and found them to be operating within our code of practice but we are monitoring them'.

"She told me I must have agreed to use the dialler service. When I said I had not she told me the window asking for my permission could have been behind the window I was reading.

"But if I haven't said 'Yes, I want to use this dialler', I don't see how I can have given my permission."

THE days of the rogue dialler fraudsters are numbered, according to industry regulator Icstis.

Heads at the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services have announced the introduction of new vetting rules.

Now premium rate firms will be expected to pass a series of rigorous checks before being allowed to operate a telephone line.

And networks will not be allowed to issue premium numbers unless express permission has been granted by Icstis.

Icstis director George Kidd said: "We will only grant permission to those companies that satisfy our stringent requirements.

"These are currently being finalised but will cover key areas such as clear terms and conditions, user consent, information about how to delete diallers, and responsibility for customer refunds and Icstis fines."

Meanwhile, spokesman Rob Dwight spoke to dispel some myths about Icstis being able to offer immediate refunds.

He said: "Icstis can issue an order for a company to offer a full refund to complainants. But that decision on whether to impose sanctions can only be issued once an investigation has been done.

"Quite a few companies are saying Icstis can get money back and that's not the case.

"We're getting a lot of calls about Internet services. Most people are assuming they've been victims of Internet fraud.

"That's not the case in the majority of calls we get. A lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon. We need to look at each call on its own merits.

"In the majority of cases it's someone in the household dialling a premium rate line.

"If it's a pensioner living on their own it could be they are going on premium rate sites and they're not reading the terms and conditions.

"If the terms and conditions are not clear we can take action but where people have simply ticked the box and said they want to enter the site they have to take responsibility for that."

He said Icstis is currently pushing for the introduction of several new policies to combat the problem. New regulations already include a requirement for networks to only pay the premium rate firms every 45 days, rather than every three days which was the case until August this year.

Billing networks will also now be expected to retain half of the payment due to the dialler firms in case they do a runner.

Mr Dwight agreed with many Daily Echo readers that phone companies are not doing as much as they could to protect consumers.

He said: "The phone companies are the only people in the position to spot unusual levels of call traffic on bills.

"Only the billing companies themselves have a direct relationship with customers.

"If Joe Bloggs normally spends £50 a month they should be contacting him when he goes over £50 not when he gets to £700."

A report due back from Ofsted at the end of the month will hopefully provide Icstis with greater powers to stamp out the problem.

A spokeswoman for One.Tel said: "We are sorry to hear about Dorothy Robinson's problems with rogue dialling. With more than a million customers it would be impossible for us to spot those small movements on an individual basis.

"One.Tel takes Internet security very seriously. Unfortunately rogue dialling is an industry issue and not isolated to One.Tel customers.

"We are working very closely with Icstis the premium rate services regulator to try and stop the fraudulent use of premium rate numbers.

"We are actively blocking these numbers as they come to our attention and we constantly educate our customers on how to prevent rogue dialling and report these numbers to us.

"We will soon be launching software which will help to further protect our customers against rogue dialling. We would advise Dorothy to contact Icstis immediately to report her problem."

WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOU'VE BEEN DIALLED:

Speak to your telephone company. Tell them you are not paying for the premium rate calls on your bill but will pay for your normal phone usage. Tell them you wish to put the premium calls on hold pending investigations.

Icstis spokesman Rob Dwight said: "We can't force all phone companies to honour that but in our experience they will hold that part of the bill."

Introduce premium line blocking. Your telephone company should also be able to set up a warning system to tell you when you go over your usual spending pattern.

Block international numbers as well. Growing numbers of con men are running up huge bills to obscure foreign nations.

Contact Icstis. They will not be able to arrange an immediate refund. It may take up to six months to find a company guilty of rogue dialling.

Meanwhile, enter any premium rate numbers on their website at www.icstis.org.uk. The site will tell you if the company is being investigated, or has been found guilty of rogue dialling, as well as supplying details of the firms. If you have a new number they will begin investigations on that company.

Write to firms under investigation demanding your money back. Mr Dwight said on one occasion a company refunded £1,700 to a disgruntled Web surfer without being legally obliged to.

Switch to broadband. It's more expensive but, in general, broadband users do not suffer problems with rogue diallers.