Virgin Media Community

[robw95]

Is there a way to report scam callers and have virgin media block them to protect their vulnerable customers? I had a call from 013427xxxx this afternoon from claiming to be from Virgin Media saying there was " Junk Files " on my router and tried to dupe me into thinking the errors shown at this page [  https://validator.w3.org/nu/?doc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.virginmedia.com%2F ] were somehow caused by the router, Of course i was stringing them along til they hung up!. These calls seem to be happening more and more with the VM landline and there does not seem to be much options to report and block them.  

[MOD EDIT: number edited in case it's an innocent number being spoofed]

[Nathan_B]

Hi there @robw95, thanks for your post.

Unfortunately we are not able to block individual numbers from calling, you have done the right thing by not giving any details as we would never call our customers to let them know there are issues as we won't know of any until our customers let us know about the issue.

You can register your number on the telephone preference service to help with calls like this, you can find all information about this here.

Regards

Nathan

[jem101]

The problem here is that the number you quoted, almost certainly ISN’T the number that the call came from.

It is comparatively easy to ‘spoof’ the calling number, so in theory if I happened to know your real number, I could make all sorts of spam calls which ‘appeared’ to be coming from you, and you would get all of the irate people calling you back demanding to know why you have been calling them!

VM and other suppliers often get stick for not ‘blocking’ spam call - but it really isn’t as easy as it might appear. As per the above scenario, if I were to spoof your number and make loads of spam calls, would you be happy if VM banned your phone number from making any calls at all?

[robw95]

While the number may be spoofed, VM don't seem to be taking the problem seriously enough even when it is their brand and company name being falsely represented.. I can't even have this spoofed number blocked from calling just my number again to avoid being harassed by these scammers. Can't VM see these numbers spoofed or otherwise flooding their network throughout the UK daytime targeting specifically their customers? I'd imagine the scammers VoIP phone system can call 100s if not 1000s of numbers until one answers in a likely sequential fashion, i,e 0171 007 7890 followed by 0171 007 7891,7892,7893  If they have a lead already of a VM customer's telephone number then it can't be too difficult for them to figure out another's.. .

[nodrogd]

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@robw95 wrote:

While the number may be spoofed, VM don't seem to be taking the problem seriously enough even when it is their brand and company name being falsely represented.. I can't even have this spoofed number blocked from calling just my number again to avoid being harassed by these scammers. Can't VM see these numbers spoofed or otherwise flooding their network throughout the UK daytime targeting specifically their customers? I'd imagine the scammers VoIP phone system can call 100s if not 1000s of numbers until one answers in a likely sequential fashion, i,e 0171 007 7890 followed by 0171 007 7891,7892,7893  If they have a lead already of a VM customer's telephone number then it can't be too difficult for them to figure out another's.. .

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These calls target ALL providers using PSTN technology. This has been raised many times before. Our telephone system in this country is using technology from the 70s & 80s on a system that is 100+ years old. The filtering systems required to trace the calls back through numerous internet servers the scammers use & authenticate every call cannot happen with the current technology. I equate it to trying to watch snooker on a Black & White TV. How can you find the blue ball if you cant see in colour?

Full VoIP switchover is planned for 2025 when the entire PSTN infrastructure is retired. With this will come end-to-end authentication & the plethera of scam calls we get now will cease overnight.