BT cold call stating my internet has changed to public use

[hcaitch]

I've just received a call from a man claiming to be from BT. He said my internet had changed from private to public access. Told him I didn't believe him to be genuine but he insisted he was & would call back later, after I had time to check with Virgin.

Can anyone confirm that this is a scam?

Thank you

[goslow · Accepted solution]

---

@hcaitch wrote:

I've just received a call from a man claiming to be from BT. He said my internet had changed from private to public access. Told him I didn't believe him to be genuine but he insisted he was & would call back later, after I had time to check with Virgin.

Can anyone confirm that this is a scam?

Thank you

---

Yes, this was a scam call.

BT has no crossover links with VM that would involve BT calling VM customers about their VM connections. This was just the opening line of the scammer's script. The scammer's info suggested you were a BT customer (maybe based on your telephone number) or just made a guess and the scammer got it wrong.

VM does not make tech support calls to customers out of the blue in that way either.

The scammers will certainly call again. They may well vary their storyline next time and claim to be VM if you previously told the scammers you were a VM customer. When they do call, just hang up on them without talking to them.

If you think you need to talk to VM for any reason, place an outbound call yourself to one of the recognised VM support numbers.

[Client62]

If you have the scam caller's number have a look at : https://who-called.co.uk/ 
you may see other scams from the same number, or may be able to log the number as a new fraudster.

[hcaitch]

Thank you for helping me with this. I'm now reassured & will definitely hang up when they call again 😊

[nodrogd]

Scammers will regularly, sometimes daily, change the fake caller ID numbers they are using. They will also not hesitate to clone numbers used by legitimate businesses or innocent residential customers to make their scam calls.

So while it may seem a good idea to report these numbers on scam call reporting websites or on forums, doing this could be detrimental to a genuine business, or cause an innocent residential customer to get abusive calls from misguided vigilante’s.

[MrHalfAsleep]

Unfortunately, it's a double edge sword having the area codes freely available on the internet.  Computers can generate 1000's of random numbers in seconds so it's really easy for scammers to operate.

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @hcaitch 👋,

A warm welcome to our Community Forums and thanks for your post. It's great to have you here 😊

This would have been a scam call as you've been correctly advised. We have some useful info 👉 here on how to handle these types of calls. 

Thanks for checking in with us and remaining vigilant!

[hcaitch]

Thanks for your reply. Helps to know there are genuine people I can relt you 😊

[Robert_P]

You're welcome hcaitch, if you need us again please don't hesitate to post 🙂

Rob

[RoyCa]

I have had the same. He asks you to ask Google what is my IP Address. The numbers come up and it says Public IP address. He says that needs to be changed to private. Then he asks you to put Validator in Google to get to W3C Markup Validation Service. You can then enter details such as www.amazon.co.uk and then click 'Check' and a list comes up which he says shows you when you have been compromised by someone trying to use your information. You can repeat the process with your bank name and so on virginmedia, BT etc. Then he wants to take you through a process to alter something. That's were I stopped and told him I wasn't altering anything for which I had neither has a letter or email about. He said I would be completely cut off from the Internet as it could not be left like that. As my anger increased he hung up.
I have just checked in settings and my Internet connection is already se to Private. So, as you say, it is a scam.