Hi My Guru always said,

Yup ....

tools > internet options > security > 'never dial'


... but it did, which I find very worrying - and passed the firewall as well, hence the warning to others.

Hi sorefingers, as I said, in my set-up, there is no old modem to unplug. The cable from phone jack plugged straight into the tower, we THOUGHT that the internet options, and a firewall would prevent such things.

I know how it got in. My other half has been transferrring his LPs onto his PC, and downloading the relvant artwork.
He had often said that the ?search engines that find the album covers he was after can land him in some nasty sites. One night in august he said had been particularly bad.
It took me weeks to get rid of the mal-ware - all with the same date as the phone calls, as it turns out.

The phone number listed on the bill is 'under investigation' by ICTSIS, hopefully, they will close it down, they must have made a fortune.

Thanks everyone