District Court of Rotterdam: ACM rightfully withdrew customer-service phone number

The District Court of Rotterdam has ruled that the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) rightfully took action against abuse of information phone number 0900-3663376. This phone number was abused by Dutch business Aktief Bouwen B.V., which wrongfully presented itself as the customer service of a large online retailer. Unsuspecting consumers were faced with high phone bills without actually receiving assistance. To this day, ACM continues to receive reports about similar forms of phone number fraud, and is now warning consumers to stay alert to ‘fake customer-service numbers’.

Businesses that falsely present themselves as the customer service of well-known businesses or organizations often make use of paid Google ads. These ads appear at the top of search results, which leads consumers to believe that they are calling the right number. In reality, they are being redirected to a paid information phone number with long wait times and high costs. Callers are initially told that the call costs 80 eurocents per minute, and are subsequently put on hold for a long time or the conversation is kept going, after which they are ultimately told that they cannot be offered any assistance. In some cases, they are called back by an anonymous number, are told that they called the ‘wrong’ number, and are then connected to the real (oftentimes free) customer service phone number after all. Such practices violate the Dutch Telecommunications Act (in Dutch: Telecommunicatiewet) as well as the Regulation on Universal Service and End User Interests (in Dutch: Regeling Universele Dienstverlening en Eindgebruikersbelangen, or Bude). In situations where abuse is found, ACM can take action, for example, by withdrawing that number.

Manon Leijten, Member of the Board of ACM, adds: “Over these past few years, we’ve withdrawn multiple numbers that were used for these kinds of misleading practices, and we remain alert in order to protect consumers against such practices. To that end, we rely on reports filed by harmed consumers. Anyone who’s fallen victim to this kind of phone number fraud will ultimately benefit from filing a report with us.”

Tips for consumers

Consumers that use an online search engine to look up an organization’s or business’s phone number may see at the top of the search results the phone number of a business other than the real customer service. ACM recommends always looking up the contact information of customer services directly on the businesses’ official websites. That is the best method for avoiding unnecessary costs. ACM calls on consumers to report misleading practices. This helps ACM take action against violations in a targeted and effective manner.