I thought I would take a few minutes to explain a very odd call ( well three of them actually) from someone purporting to be from SFR.
She explained that there would soon be a problem with my fixed line and that if I called a number the problem would be fixed quickly . I confess that my understanding of French spoken quickly ( particularly on the phone ) is patchy but I asked her a few questions to confirm what she was saying . She then gave me a number of 13 digits beginning 006 . I smelled the proverbial rat , said merci , au revoir and put the phone down.
I immediately checked that my landline was working. Seconds later she rang back to say that I had to ring the number there and then and her tone was polite but increasingly frantic. There was also a lot of back ground noise as in Call Centre . I told her I would do it later and put the phone down again. By the way, these calls were all within 5 minutes at lunchtime!
She rang yet again . I gave her no time to explain anything else and told her that she had called me three times and I was having lunch.
I feel sure it was some kind of scam but can’t fathom how it would work . The telephone number she gave me is very odd looking and my ligne fixe is working fine , touch wood. I cannot believe that SFR would ring individual customers to say that there was going to be a problem with their land line . They would surely send out a general SMS and refer you to your espace client for more information?
I have no intention of ringing the number and if she calls again I will contact SFR.
Best regards.
Clive (Vinca).
This has just happened to me and although the caller sounded genuine (ie not from anywhere other than France) I did not believe sfr would cut off my Free line for 10 to 12 days. When she called back from a different number I told her it was a scam and rang off. Nothing more has been heard!
Thank you for posting this. We have just had the same scam. The way it usually works is that the number you call is a premium number, which costs a few euros a minute. They say that you have to stay on the line until the issue is fixed but then leave you there until you lose patience.