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> Hang up, dial the customer care number on the back of the card, then dial the digits supplied by the support rep.

Except apparently to prevent this form of fraud you need to hang up, then call from your mobile, so that the "support rep" can't just stay on the line and do what the guys in this story did (fake a dial tone, make it seem like you've called the customer care number).

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Hang up, dial your friend. If your "bank" answers, offer to sell them a ppppppowerbook.

Wow, that's so simple and clever. It seems so obvious but I wonder if I'd remember to do that if I was shaken up by my "bank" calling to tell me my account had been compromised. I'll write it down for future reference.

You're right, I misunderstood the behaviour of UK lines; however, it would still be workable in the US or Canada.

I think Canada's system does this, though it might only be a couple seconds. I recall being able to stay on the line ~10 seconds or more and still retain the call. If you have the person on the other side of the phone holding the card and looking at the phone number, being instructed to call it because of some urgent fraud, they're almost certainly going to hang up, and pick back up within a ~5 second window.

And if they don't, no harm, no foul (to the scammers)

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