+ 4470 redirect service used by scammers

[bbcn]

These +4470 numbers are a gift to online scammers by British phone regulators. They are primarily owned by obscure British phone companies offering an anonymous call forwarding service. The economic model of these services is simple: The caller dials a rather expensive UK number and the UK service provider forwards the incoming call to a somewhat less expensive to call international number (for example a Nigerian mobile phone, which remains hidden from the caller), pocketing the difference between the call rates. For example, the caller might pay 50 cents per minute to call a +44 70 number and the call will then be forwarded to a Nigerian mobile phone that costs 25 cents per minute, leaving 25 cents per minute as a net margin for the service operator. The more successful the scammers are, the more money the phone company makes. Whoever said crime doesn’t pay?
These UK phone numbers are very attractive to scammers: When people can be made to believe that they are dealing with a bank, lawyer or government official in London, UK when they’re actually talking to a scammer on his cell phone in an Internet cafe in Lagos, Nigeria then they are much more easily defrauded by criminals.
As far as I can tell these numbers aren’t really being used for any other purpose than to enable international online crimes to be committed. In some nine years of tracking Nigerian scam emails, I have yet to come across a single legitimate user of a +44 70 number. I really don’t understand why the British government has allowed those services to continue to operate.

The logical progression would be to break the (+44) 118 321 0321 number. The fee will depend on what kind of number it is.

[Marisa]

noticed this post and found it very interesting, decided to bump it up, to save from auto-pruning.

[geecee]

Yes I would agree the +4470 numbers are a major red flag when it comes to scams!
Personal forwarding phone numbers are easily recognized, and they are a major red flag when it comes to identifying scams or scammers. The number is often given in the format +447024013818. The country code, (the +44) seemingly indicates that the number is UK-based number. The 70 prefix, however, identifies it as a personal forwarding number. Because of the high rates charged for the caller, legitimate UK businesses would not be eager to use a +4470 number as a contact number for customers or people applying for employment.
If anyone is given a +4470 number to ring during an exchange of e-mails, chances are you are dealing with a scammer. This is especially true if that number claims to belong to a barrister, lawyer, travel agency, visa agency, lottery claim office or human resources/employment department. Others may correct me if I'm wrong but I have not heard of a legitimate 4470 number.