Ofcom's advice on your next step

Landline Phones -
If you need advice about privacy, security issues and unwanted calls

You should be very wary if you are contacted – by phone, e-mail or letter - by an individual or a company telling you that you’ve won a competition but that you must ring a particular number to claim your prize.

The number they give you is likely to be a premium rate number starting with 090. Calls to premium rate phone numbers are charged by the minute, and are normally much more expensive than the cost of a standard phonecall. It could also be a number starting with 070, which looks like a mobile number but isn't. This is a personal number, and can also be expensive.

You are very unlikely to be given the valuable prize these scammers often describe. If you dial the number they give you, you will have to listen to a long recorded message before ending up with nothing except for a large phone bill.

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