A former BT engineer last night told the EDP how a telephone scam has been carried out using equipment costing just a few pounds.

Incredibly in such a hi-tech industry, it appears that all that the fraudsters needed was cutting equipment and simple telephones.

John Uff, 42, of Horsey, near Yarmouth, discovered the truth after he became a victim of the premium rate calls scam that has netted thousands of pounds and affected villages as far afield as Thurne, near Yarmouth, and Bardfield Saling in Essex.

The first victims know what has happened is when they open their phone bills and find they have been charged for premium rate calls ? often to adult sex chat lines ? which they had not made.

After the EDP revealed that nearly half the households of Thurne had been affected, it became clear from phone calls from readers that the sting was more widespread.

Mr Uff, who runs a computer business using 120 phone lines, said: "My normal BT bill would be £1500 to £2000 a month for line rental.

"This one was for £3500 and there were a number of calls listed, which was strange because we always use other phone companies to make calls."

Some 80 premium rate calls were listed ? the most expensive £32 ? totalling £1300.

He said: "Ten of the calls were made at the same time on different lines, and they were all made between 1am and 2.30am on a night in May."

Mr Uff said when he rang the BT helpline he encountered the same attitude of disbelief as other EDP readers.

However, the truth became clear when he joined a BT engineer on an inspection of the cables running into Horsey along the main road.

Mr Uff, who had been a BT engineer for 10 years, said: "He found a spot where there was clear evidence of tampering with the lines."

The lines had been exposed at a joint between two cables and the insulating material cut away.

Then it had been a simple matter of connecting a telephone or telephones to the lines leading to homes and businesses in the village.

He said: "If they find a dialling tone they can connect with a premium rate number, and someone ends up being charged."

Mr Uff has set up an information website on the subject, fax.co.uk/scam.

His advice to people in rural communities where phone lines might be isolated and vulnerable is to consider asking BT to bar all premium rate calls from their home, by ringing 0800 800 150.

Evidence that the East Anglia scam might be more widespread than first thought was reinforced last night by Hilary Franzen, who lives in Hellington, between Norwich and Loddon.

On her last bill from phone company Homecall, she was shocked to find 13 mystery premium rate calls listed, swelling her normal £70 charge to £210.

The longest of the calls ? all made early on May 9 ? totalled as much as £28.99.

She said: "My worry is that this might happen again. Like other people reported in the EDP I tried to contact the premium number regulator, ICSTIS, but they were constantly engaged."

A BT spokesman said the scam was still being investigated, but people affected had been refunded, or would be in due course.

As it was a criminal matter, he declined to comment on Mr Uff's explanation as to how it had occurred.

Plans to increase maximum premium rate tariffs to £5 a minute have been shelved over concerns that higher charges could lead to even more people being ripped off.

Premium rate watchdog ICSTIS said it would not proceed with proposals to offer new £2.50 and £5.00 a minute charges until sufficient safeguards are in place to protect consumers.

 George Kidd, the director general of ICSTIS, said: "We know high tariffs are particularly attractive to those intent on wrongdoing. We will only move on the trial [of new higher premium rate charges] when we are sure the right safeguards are in place.

"The same is true for any tariff increased, including suggestions of £2.00 per minute. It would be irresponsible to raise tariffs at a time when complaints levels are rising, consumer harm is increasing and overall trust in premium rate is under threat."

Indeed, ICSTIS warns in its latest bulletin that complaints about Internet-related premium-rate services have rocketed. In particular, it's concerned that Net users are being stung by rogue "dialler software" that disconnects PCs from an ISP before reconnecting them to a premium rate service.

Last month, an Internet sex company was fined £10,000 after more than 370 punters complained that it had installed software on their PCs that connected them to a premium-rate phone line. ®