Scam alert

[damo82]

I was just phoned by "Virgin Media" on [REMOVED] who informed me that my broadband was throwing up errors. They asked me what colour light my BB box was - it's solid white, as it should be - they said it should be green or blue. They then asked me to open a command prompt on my PC. At that point it was very clear they were just trying to open ports or whatever so I hung up. 

Just so all are aware she was actually very convincing up until that point. I did open up the SH network status which was showing no errors.

I don't know if there is a way to block this number or alert VM?

[MOD EDIT: information has been removed from this post.Please review the Forum Guidelines]

[jpeg1]

Scammers change the displayed phone number all the time, so that one number is meaningless.   You can assume that any call like that is a scam.  Just ignore them.

[lotharmat]

Or - have a laugh at their expense by keeping them on the phone as long as you can - my record is 37 minutes! - By playing very dumb!

[damo82]

Just had another one now [REMOVED]. Managed 3 minutes.

[MOD EDIT: Information has been removed from this post.  Please review the Forum Guidelines]

[lotharmat]

Amateur! 😉

If I want to get rid of them quickly, I just read back their spelling as

Y for yankee
E for Echo
S for scammer

I've been told to Foxtrot Oscar more times than I care to remember! - That is when I laugh like a maniac until they hang up!

[damo82]

Any way to block these numbers like you can on your mobile phone?

[lotharmat]

I've signed up to the telephone preference service but alas even this does not stop all of them!

The unscrupulous ones just literally have a list of generated phone numbers and their dialler ploughs through this until they get a ring - an answer will then pass the call through to an agent. A ring denotes a live number and this is then shared between the unscrupulous barsteward companies!

This is why I have fun with them - I get my number listed as a nuisance with them and they give up! - I barely get one a month now and I'm quite disappointed if hey hang up early!

[lotharmat]

Another one to do if they insist you go to anydesk dot com or something like that is to tell them that the website doesn't work.

They then ask you what you;ve typed and you tell them 'NEdesk dot com'

Play dumb and go to anydesk eventually and just tell them that you can't see the button to download the client..

Tell them there is a rectangle there with a tiny teeny red cross in it where they say the button is - I've had then for 10 minutes before here trying to get me to look for the download link!

Eventually say - "Am I on the right site" and spell it out as

alpha, november, delta, echo, SCAMMER... etc - That's when they get super mad and tell you to have 'relations' with your sister! - So funny!

[goslow]

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@damo82 wrote:

Any way to block these numbers like you can on your mobile phone?

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VM landlines have no means to deal with these scam calls. You need to use third party equipment such as a trueCall device or a BT phone with trueCall features built in. These screen the calls (requiring the caller to respond to voice prompts) rather than blocking numbers. Number blocking will never be successful as the fake caller ID numbers are ever-changing and any fake scam number you choose to block will probably never call you again in the future.

As regards stringing the scammers along, it might provide some fun and satisfaction but, from the other forums, there are an increasing number of posts to suggest that the scammers are no longer using random or fake caller IDs but are using real numbers from innocent individuals or businesses as their fake caller IDs. This is why the moderators have removed the numbers you posted. Wind the scammers up too much and you may find your own number gets fed back into the scammer calling loop and used as a fake caller ID in future calls, resulting in you receiving irate calls back from future recipients of the scammers' calls who think you have phoned and tried to scam them.

If you speak to the scammers, and engage with them, you have confirmed your line is working and there is a real person at the end of it willing to talk to them. The scammers won't care if you call them out as scammers, they will just keep calling your number in the hope they get to speak to someone else who is less wary that they can sell their scam story to.

IMHO you should aim to make you landline number as invisible and anonymous as possible. Go ex-directory, sign up with TPS, fit a call screening device/phone on the line and, if you do end up speaking to a scammer for some reason, just hang up on them straightaway without talking to them.

[Corey_C]

Thanks for your post and update, damo82,

Goslow's advice is spot-on. You can also check out our nuisance calls page here: https://www.virginmedia.com/help/home-phone-nuisance-calls

Cheers,

Corey C