Phone call this morning - informing me my IP was hacked???

[MarkT6500]

I had a phone call from [MOD EDIT: REMOVED] saying they were virgin media and will need 30 mins to go through what I need to do to set up to protect me, as my IP was being hacked????

 [MOD EDIT: Personal and private information has been removed from this post. Please do not post personal or private information in your public posts. Please review the Forum Guidelines]

[goslow · Accepted solution]

This was, of course, a scam call as VM don't make unsolicited tech support calls in this way.

They will certainly ring again. Just hang up on them without speaking to them. Engaging with them will just result in more of the same type of calls.

[ALF28]

cold calls (to virgin landline)

I had a similar call 24/11/2021, saying my hub was hacked and my amazon account compromised, It was a woman with asian accent.

I refused to co-operate and put the phone down, it was a scam telephone number and there are 3693 reports mainly virigin media scams dating back to 23/10/2021.

I then had two more quick calls after that, one a lottery scam, and then a domestic appiance insurance scam.

Good advice form goslow, do not speak to them, it is an easy mistake to start talking to them.

The phone numbers can be spoofed now, the system does not block these numbers and scammers can spoof genuine phone numbers form banks etc, so no one is safe now.

alf28

[ALF28]

cold call scam- computer scams

Had another call with an aberdeen phone number wanting access to my computer, female with an asian accent who seemed to have our details, my wife took the call but hung up after speaking a short while.

These phone numbers are known scam callers and can be looked up on the who called me website, which has records of such fake calls, so I always check who has called, my landline phone  (virgin phoneline) records the callers number and stores this as it is a display phone with answer phone facility.

I suspect these calls are from ouside of the Uk using voip and they just keep changing the phone number used.

As they originate outside of the Uk they bypass the TPS service, but it seems odd a call from outside of the Uk can be spoofed to have a uk area code, I sometimes get my own area code also with scam calls, perhaps they want to make the phone numbers look like uk numbers.

The phone system lets these numbers through, so I assume all call are scams unless my display phone knows it is in my phonebook and gives the name of the caller, but as any call could be important such as doctor, hospitals etc I always do answer to see who calls.

alf28

[ALF28]

microsoft scam- on my virgin landline phone today 09.07 am,this morning call claiming to be microsoft.

A very persistant  woman speaking with an asian accent, then a man claiming I had fault on my computer.

They had my name and address and phone number which is a concern, these calls are becoming regular.

I informed them that microsoft do not ring customers in this way and asked for their names and details, and they then became defensive and treatened that they would not assist me with raised voices bodering on abusive.

The number is a london code and know scam phone number since11/11/2021 with dangerous rating.

There should be an alert system to block such calls, the TPS service does not work, I am registered.

alf28

[goslow]

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@ALF28 wrote:

cold call scam- computer scams

<snip>  as any call could be important such as doctor, hospitals etc I always do answer to see who calls.

alf28

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Each time you answer the phone and talk to them (even if you know it is a scam and you tell them so) you have confirmed that a) your number is receiving calls and b) there is a real person on the line who is willing to talk to the scammers.

They don't care if the person they speak to on any one call can spot they are a scammer. They will just keep phoning. They are hoping for the one call when they get to talk to someone else who isn't as scammer-savvy and might just be taken along by their scammer storyline.

If you keep answering any and every call, then you are just going to keep getting more of the same scammer 'sales' calls.

[ALF28]

THANKS-scam calls- do not answer them.- virgin media landline phone

I will take your advice not to answer to any scam calls,my answerphone will kick in after a few rings, and in that time I can view the number display and see if it is a known caller ID, and can pick up the phone before or even after the answerphone starts up, that way any unknown callers will be asked to leave a message, and usually only a genuine caller leaves a message, but have had some weird  messages in the past such a music or clicks/noises etc.

Most scammers can identify an answerphone and do not leave messages.

You probably are correct that once you answer a scam call they will keep ringing again.

Some scammers use a pre-recorded message then ask you to press 1 for details.

Although I am ex directory, the scammers still know my personal details in order to contact me.

It is because sometimes important calls are expected, I tend to pick up the phone if expecting a call, but in the event of a scammer best to just put down the phone and hang up rather than engage in conversation, although somtimes it is hard to differentiate scam from genuine if say they claim to be from virgin media for example, and I have had genuine calls from virgin media, which has a known number/ID so I will put that my phonebook memory to avoid confusion in the future.

I get similar issues with mobile phones and unknown callers, get several per week bank scams, make money scams etc. or some are prank calls, some in foreign languages, just had one now so the same applies to keep the phonebook up to date with normal contact numbers.

alf28

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @ALF28,

Thanks for remaining vigilant.

We have some tips here on how to handle these types of calls.

Kind Regards,

[Royster01223]

I have just had a call from someone claiming to be from Virgin Media saying that my internet had been hacked. They asked me to look on a website My 1P Address. On the Google search it comes up as being a scam website. I didnt go any further as the info I need showed on a preview of the page.

I was initially drawn in as they knew my details but was also suspicious as they were almost reading the info I found on Google. I said I was going to call Virgin Media direct as I’m not sure of legitimacy due to being cold called.

This has led me to this thread and glad I went with my suspicions