Spam calls ro verify router

[fmcac]

Hi,

I received a phone call from someone with Far East accent, and back noise of an office, saying she was calling from Virgin and "they" were getting error signals from my router, so they wanted to perform a test. The call was done to my Virgin line. She asked how many devices I had connected via WiFi and then asked me to perform a Speedtest, which I did choosing Ookla by my own initiative. I was already suspicious but did perform the test. Nevertheless I decided not to go on with that conversation, hanged up and immediately switch off the router. I'm now using my mobile as a hotspot to connect. I suspect this could be a scam to access my laptop (macbook). It's perhaps worth mentioning that from the moment I stupidly did the speedtest test, the conversation ended in about one minute and I immediately switched-off the router. Any ideas if this could have been indeed a scam  as I suspect, and if this may have allowed them to access sensitive information in my Macbook, even if only one minute elapsed between the time I did the speedtest and the router was switched off? Any help very much appreciation. Thanks! 

[gary_dexter · Accepted solution]

Yes it’s a scam.

If you didn’t give them access to your laptop or router/hub you’ll be fine to turn it back on again. 

[fmcac]

Hi, many thanks for your reply.

Do you think that it's possible for them to access my router/laptop just by knowing my Virgin phone number and having me performing a speed test "while we were talking" ? That's all that happened, because the phone call was interrupted one minute later and nothing else was done.

I think - in some scam cases at least - they would go on asking me to access a site where I would share my laptop connection.  That didn't happen. My fear is that somehow just by performing that speedtest at the moment they were talking with me on the phone they may have gain information that allows them to get into the router/laptop. Do you think this is possible? Many thanks in advance.

[spgray · Accepted solution]

no, impossible for them to do so.

what they want you to do is allow them to remote access your PC (by you downloading a piece of software) and then that's where they do their "work"

[gary_dexter]

No. You’ll be fine. 

[fmcac]

Hi, many thanks. It's good to recover confidence to go back to the normal connection. Cheers!

[fmcac]

Hi again, many thanks for your reply. Good to know. Cheers!

[khls15995]

I had a similar call from BT calling about my Virgin Media router a month or two ago and also 3 calls claiming to be calling from Virgin Media yesterday (Fri 9th) and today.  It sounded strange as I know Virgin Media, or any other ISP for that matter, would never call you about a problem.  They've never done that with me.

[khls15995]

Thank you for your feedback on this.  It's nice to know you've done the right thing.