Virgin Media Community

[Foxylady6264]

In the last 24 hours, I have received 13 calls from someone claiming to be Virgin Media....the give away that it wasn't, was I asked for his name, he said it was Router Dave! All the numbers are different, I answered the first three, wish I hadn't. I tried to get through to Virgin a couple of times yesterday, after an hour on hold, I gave up. What can I do about this without changing my landline number? I feel like leaving Virgin at the moment, as the customer service is non existent!

[DJ_Shadow1966]

Hello

These are scams and having going around for a while the calls are using an auto dialer that spoofs the calling number hence why it changes so you will find it hard to block them.

Have a look at https://www.virginmedia.com/help/fraudulent-calls

Regards M<ike

[goslow · Accepted solution]

---

@Foxylady6264 wrote:

<snip> What can I do about this without changing my landline number? I feel like leaving Virgin at the moment, as the customer service is non existent!

---

A call screening device such as trueCall, or a screening/blocking phone with similar features, can be very effective at stopping the scam calls ringing through to your phone.

[PaulHibbert]

I have this today too - 8 calls so far in the last 4 hours all from different numbers but obviously the same room with the same background noise.

[PaulHibbert]

---

@goslow wrote:

A call screening device such as trueCall, or a screening/blocking phone with similar features, can be very effective at stopping the scam calls ringing through to your phone.

---

This is no use at all when every time they call they are using a different number.

[Emily_G]

Thanks for the post Paulhibbert.

Have you already registered for the telephone preference service which may be able to assist with this?

Thanks, Emily.

[PaulHibbert]

---

@Emily_G wrote:

Thanks for the post Paulhibbert.

Have you already registered for the telephone preference service which may be able to assist with this?

Thanks, Emily.

---

Yes, Emily I have been registered with the Telephone Preference Service for many years.  So many calls in one day and I am not the only one - suggesting your database of landline numbers has been hacked.  You need to do something about this.  Right now my landline is unusable and if this is not resolved I will be cancelling my contract.

[goslow]

---

@PaulHibbert wrote:

---

@goslow wrote:

A call screening device such as trueCall, or a screening/blocking phone with similar features, can be very effective at stopping the scam calls ringing through to your phone.

---

This is no use at all when every time they call they are using a different number.

---

I'm afraid you do not understand the difference between call screening and call blocking.

The trueCall device is not a simple number blocker. It screens the call before deciding how to process it and whether or not to allow the customer's phone to ring. If the call is a spam/scam call it is then blocked by the device.

Some months ago, I posted some information on my experience of setting up the standalone trueCall device

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Nuisance-Calls/m-p/4324071#M136451

A more recent post by @Azzer describes the experience of setting up a BT phone with trueCall technology to do the screening and blocking process.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/7-spam-calls-today-supposedly-from-Virginmedia/m-p/4...

My own experience of using the trueCall standalone device on my own VM landline for the last few months has been that it has totally stopped the scam calls ringing through to my home landline phone.

[Foxylady6264]

Your database of phone numbers has been hacked or shared. This is really worrying given the GDPR rules we are expected to comply with. I shouldn't be having to purchase a device to screen calls that are fraudulently claiming to be from a business that I purchase a service from. I have reported it to the action fraud team, however, Virgin Media needs to be doing more to protect it's customers. 

[goslow]

---

@Foxylady6264 wrote:

Your database of phone numbers has been hacked or shared. This is really worrying given the GDPR rules we are expected to comply with. I shouldn't be having to purchase a device to screen calls that are fraudulently claiming to be from a business that I purchase a service from. I have reported it to the action fraud team, however, Virgin Media needs to be doing more to protect it's customers. 

---

Unfortunately, it would seem unlikely that VM will be implementing any further features for customers to use on its existing phone network as that is scheduled for retirement by 2025. After that, home phone services will be provided via a connection to the back of the VM hub. From that point, more technological solutions are likely to be available to centrally block scam calls more effectively.

The scam calls are not as a direct result of a data breach. The calls are generated by automatic dialling software which rings blocks of numbers in sequence hoping to make a connection. All telecoms providers are affected by this problem although other providers do have better customer-enabled features to mitigate against the problem.

If you do not wish to invest in a call screening/blocking device, your existing phone may possibly already have some features built in which may help a bit with identifying the scam calls as outlined below.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/High-number-of-nuisance-scam-calls/m-p/4451594#M1412...

Some phone ranges such as Panasonic do also allow blocking of certain number ranges as well as withheld numbers. Worth noting though that blocking withheld numbers can sometimes block calls from doctors, hospitals etc. who do sometimes withhold their caller ID.

The most effective solution though is a screening/blocking device of some kind.