Virgin Media Community

[Rick_]

We are being bombarded by calls from scam artists trying to get us to provide bank details. Todays lot are claiming to be Virgin Media themselves. We have a house phone that blocks these nuisance calls and the memory for them is full already we have received so many. We have had about 10 calls today already from these scammers and get many every single day. There has to be some way of stopping this, it's harassment at this point.

My mother is elderly, disabled and a vulnerable adult and does not need the house phone annoying her all day with this rubbish. She needs the house phone for certain relatives who do not have mobiles and only contact her by landline, otherwise we would have just disconnected it ages ago.

Are Virgin actively doing anything about trying to reduce the amount of spam calls that are getting through to their customers? It honestly is disgraceful how many times we have been contacted by scammers all claiming to be Virgin, Amazon, BT and wanting us to visit some website or provide card details over the phone. Answering it and immediately hanging up doesn't stop them, and the "Virgin Media" caller this afternoon was not giving up and repeatedly called us after being told politely, and then not so politely, to go away. The phone numbers are always so similar with the last few digits changed. Or they look like mobile numbers to try and fool people into answering.

Sorry for the rant but I need to get this off my chest, I'm at the end of my rope with this. Something needs to be done.

[jacquiwhewell]

Me to.I am ex directory.joined 10 years ago with the IPS and STILL get about 8 calls a day.Come on Virgin.....get your act together.We are paying for this.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @Rick_,

Welcome to the community! Thank you for posting on here.

I am sorry that you have been getting scam callers recently, I know this is not a nice thing to deal with.

Please click here to check on our webpage for fraudulent calls. There is a 'how to report a fraudulent call' if you scroll to the bottom half of the page, click the link provided from there.

Let me know how you get on with doing this.

Look forward to your response.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @jacquiwhewell,

I do appreciate how frustrating these calls can be, for that I am sorry.

We have no control over the scammers who call our customers, we can advice on how to avoid being tricked into paying the wrong people or blocking the numbers that call you, but we can not 100% stop other companies from doing what they do.

I wish we could.

Many thanks, 

[Rick_]

Hi Hayley

I have reported the caller on the website you have provided. It isn't just one scam caller, I'm getting multiple a day and from a myriad of phone numbers, landlines and mobiles. Some are withheld also. What else can be done, this really has went beyond what I'm prepared to tolerate. It's a disgrace that this behaviour is allowed to happen.

[goslow]

---

@Rick_ wrote:

We are being bombarded by calls from scam artists trying to get us to provide bank details. Todays lot are claiming to be Virgin Media themselves. <snip>

Sorry for the rant but I need to get this off my chest, I'm at the end of my rope with this. Something needs to be done.

---

Read through this recent similar thread which explains more about the issue of the scam calls and why simply trying to block numbers is of no use.

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Silent-calls-to-new-phone-number/td-p/4660969

Devices which screen the calls instead can successfully filter out the automated scam calls and prevent your home phone from ringing with them.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @Rick_,

I am sorry for this, as these calls are not from us directly there is not a way for us to stop this, they can change their numbers so it is just a matter of blocking them or hanging up on anyone who is trying to charge you money.

I wish there was more I could do.

Many thanks,

[jamesofmerton · Accepted solution]

'It's a disgrace that this behavior is allowed to happen'

it is indeed. as an anti scammer of many years i see this kind of thing every day. one person told me they
had over a hundred calls in 2 hours one day last year.

aside from call screening devices which 'can' help, there is little anyone can do. scammers quite often are overseas. they will use spoofing software to mimic real companies. some scammers were employing english speaking people to put victims off the scent that a foreign sounding voice is noted as more likely being a scammer. one person said the call showed their own number as phoning them.

it is easier to bring email scammers down. telephone scammers require much more effort.

one thing i always say though is this, if you are receiving a scam call/email/letter then someone else has just fallen for it.

a scammer once told me that out of thousands of scam emails they send automatically, if only a couple respond, he can feed his family well for a year.

as far as landline phones are concerned you could pull the plug for a couple of weeks, that can reduce the level of calls as they get fed up phoning a constantly ringing number. once you plug back in it will have died down. for a bit anyway.  

[Buffer6]

Invest in a call-blocker either as a phone or add-on, lots of reasonably cheap call-blocker phones are readily available

on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=call+blocking+telephones&crid=39Z5EZZ3SCP08&sprefix=call+block%2Caps%2C... 

even refurbished phones will do the job and insure you only get calls from the people on your VIP list

[nodrogd]

---

@Rick_ wrote:
Hi Hayley

I have reported the caller on the website you have provided. It isn't just one scam caller, I'm getting multiple a day and from a myriad of phone numbers, landlines and mobiles. Some are withheld also. What else can be done, this really has went beyond what I'm prepared to tolerate. It's a disgrace that this behaviour is allowed to happen.

---

The problem is we are now using internet phones & software with a 150 year old analogue phone system. The phone system is the weak security link & needs to be replaced, which is planned for 2025. But this is a huge task that involves decomissioning all the existing telephone exchanges & replacing them with internet servers. Also your phones will have to transfer to your internet hub as well. For the time being a call filtering phone is your only option. Blocking numbers is no good as the scammers can spoof any number from non existant to your neighbours or the company down the road. Some have even reported being called by scammers from their own number.