Charity warning over new telephone scam

The scam features a series of bogus telephone numbers that forward people to the Dental Helpline. While connected, fraudsters are then able to hit callers with highly-inflated charges.

These additional and illicit charges have been collected by criminals and not passed onto the charity.

The Oral Health Foundation would like to make clear that its Dental Helpline can only be called on its local-rate Rugby telephone number: 01788 539 780.

All other telephone numbers claiming to be the Oral Health Foundation’s Dental Helpline (including those beginning with 0845) are not genuine and could result in callers being faced with unsuspected charges.

Chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, Nigel Carter, asks anybody looking to contact the Dental Helpline, to check the authenticity of the details beforehand.

Nigel said, “We are aware of a telephone scam in which a series of fake numbers, claiming to be the Dental Helpline, are taking money for unsuspecting callers.

“To clarify, our Dental Helpline has one telephone number only. This is a local-rate number (01788 539 780) and is not a premium line.