no telephone company anywhere in the UK will charge for receiving an call.
the only way you could get scammed is if a caller ID comes back to an 09xx number or foreign number (00+country code) and you dial this number out of curiosity or “social engineering” (i.e being conned into dialling the number)
one scam is for a computer to dial random numbers (perhaps from an unrelated VOIP trunk) presenting the caller ID of the scam number and then to immediately clear down
also spam texts with the 09xx number
another is to send a postcard saying “you have a parcel” and point to this number
when the 09xx number is called one of these things happen
1] the distant trunk on the 09xx number immediately seizes (answers) the line (where billing starts) but plays back a ringback tone (so you think you are still waiting for the call to be answered
2] the call is auto answered a long call centre hold message (and are charged for listening to the message) whilst the scammers make money
and also the caller ID of the person (if present) is logged as “someone who fell for the scam” and then passed on to other scammers
unfortunately if you accidentally dial an 09xx number unless you are the sort of person who has equipment to monitor line conditions (on fixed lines) and know if a call has actually been answered it would be easy to get caught out by 1] until the bill comes in
the organisation in charge of high rate 09xx lines is actuallly fairly good at shutting down rogue operatoors (often working with feds and BT Security) but they need to be made aware this is happening..
most of these strange calls are just foreigin telesales places though..
