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[craigski]

I watched Panorama last night on fraudsters, where the the fraudsters call victim and pretend to be bank and/or police, and convince the victim to had over money.

What I didn't know was they do not hang up after the initial call, instead play a dial tone down the line, and I assume can hear/decode the next number dialed by victim, play ringing tone etc

After hanging up, the victim then calls either the bank or police directly, the fraudsters then answer the call pretending to be bank or police, depending on what the victim has dialed, as the line was never hung up. The victim thinks they have dialed the bank or police, but are talking to fraudsters.

I'm assuming this 'feature' of the call staying connected when the receive hangs up is a design legacy of the landline technology, as it doesn't happen with VoIP/Mobiles.

[broadstairs]

Yes it has always been that way with landlines. There used to be something I think called a 'howler' which used to be sent to your huse phone if you left it off the hook for a while in an attempt to get it back on hook! I have no idea if it still works with digital voice type calls or not.

Stuart

[4candles]

I'm assuming this 'feature' of the call staying connected when the receive hangs up is a design legacy of the landline technology...

Not since 2015.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34714531

[craigski]

Interesting, BBC News from 2015 says it shouldn't happen anymore, but a BBC Panorama episode in 2023 says its still happening 'last summer'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001j6mh/panorama-cops-cash-and-fraudsters (about 14:00 minutes in)

[kitz]

a BBC Panorama episode in 2023 says its still happening 'last summer'

by reducing the time a phone line stays open to just a couple of seconds.

The crux here being how long is a "couple of seconds" and how quickly you pick up the receiver again after disconnecting.
I'd forgotten about this... until now and can confirm that it is possible to remain connected.

My mother called me yesterday and the phone I'd been speaking to her on started beeping for low battery.  I hung up the phone and picked up on anothr without the call being terminated.  In fairness I was quick,  a case of pressing the red button on phone A and then the green button on phone B. I'd already taken phone B out of the charger so the call was probably interrupted by a second or 2.

Leading me to think there's a possibility where people disconnect and immediately reconnect again straight away.  If you have your bank card in your hand and you already have the bank phone number you need to dial right in front of you, then that quick disconnect is probably too fast to satisfy a couple of seconds.   

The scammers may be aware of this, with a clever bit of coaching they could have the victim prepared by making sure the victim has the details and number of who they need to call before they hang up.  It may not always work if the target is slow, but if the scammers have done the prep work, then they may be a chance that the victim does a quick disconnect by immediately calling the bank number or 999 without the line having been disconnected for more than "a couple of seconds".

[mofa2020]

I do not know if this applicable to UK as well but I believe in my country the call will remain connected as long as the caller did not hang-up the phone and the called party will lose dial tone, this happened in my house and after a while the person called us on mobile to put the phone handset correctly.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I had a completely different thing happen but still felt like a scam.

Mum was calling Boots and got left on hold, she hung up but somehow the phone glitched and put the call on hold.  I got a bill for about £300 (it was my contract) which I contested as her phone showed no indication of it being on hold, pretty sure the battery even ran down during the period I was billed for and AFAIK the service to do that was not enabled on her contract.  It was after this I moved her to PAYG so at worst she'd blow through £10 not £300.

I wonder if this has happened a lot as most companies these days have a time limit how long you can be on hold, or at least cut you off once it goes out-of-hours.  Though it makes you wonder if mobile companies still bill you while disconnected, until you actually hang up?

Fortunately she mostly uses VoIP now so that the calls are recorded as she forgets what has been said the second she hangs up.  Plus normal DECT phones are a lot easier to use than smartphones.