Scam Call or Legitimate?

[Techimike]

I received a phone call today on my landline from 'Virgin Media' informing me that someone had hacked my router and downloaded software that will compromise my PC, Tablet and Mobile Phone.

The 'call centre' was extremely noisy and obviously based in Asia.  I listened patiently to the gentleman explaining what I need to do and stopped him when he asked me to open up my PC and go to the windows icon. I challenged him that he obviously wanted to get me to let him take control of my PC.  He protested that he was working for Virgin Media and just wanted to fix my 'problem' . At this point I hung up.

I am very sceptical of these cold calls.

My question is, was it a scam or a Virgin Employee trying to do his job?

[goslow]

This was a scam call as VM do not make unsolicited outbound tech support calls in this way.

[Techimike]

I thought it was as others have tried this scam in the past, if I have time I string them along.  My record was 42 minutes.  I kept telling the guy that I was having problems getting my PC to work and kept having to switch it off and back on again. At 39 minutes his supervisor stepped in and asked me what make of computer I had and that I should make a small donation to their company for helping them. at that point I said my PC is working now. he then asked me to go to the bottom LH corner and press the windows icon.  After stalling him again I said to him I must buy a new PC and get onto the internet.  They hung up on me :-0  

[Techimike]

the BIG question is how do they know that I have Virgin Media and my landline number? That's concerning

[Graham_A]

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@Techimike wrote:
the BIG question is how do they know that I have Virgin Media and my landline number? That's concerning

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They don't - they are phishing.  They guess at Virgin Media based on the publicly available tables of which number groups are allocated to Virgin Media.  Their computer systems randomly dial numbers until they find one that someone answers.

As you soon as you do answer and engage with them that confirms they have hit a genuine number and are more likely to try you again or even sell the data onto other scammers as a confirmed number.

[RAP46]

Received two of the same scam calls regarding highjack of my VirginMedia broadband. 

Both call appear to come from a call centre but show on my call log as different local exchange numbers.  How are they cloning local numbers and are VM aware of this?

[goslow]

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@RAP46 wrote:

Received two of the same scam calls regarding highjack of my VirginMedia broadband. 

Both call appear to come from a call centre but show on my call log as different local exchange numbers.  How are they cloning local numbers and are VM aware of this?

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Yes, VM are well aware as there are many topics on here about this subject.

Legitimate companies may want to show a particular phone number on caller ID when placing outbound calls (such as a general switchboard number or a local office number for international companies). Scammers have simply taken advantage of this feature.

In the past the scammers have tended to use random or non-existent numbers. From the topics on here, it seems as if they are increasingly using real telephone numbers (cloned from innocent legitimate businesses or residential users) and are matching the 'stolen' numbers to the numbers of the exchange being called by the scammers. They do this to try to add an air of authenticity to the call. OFCOM publish lists of number blocks for particular area codes and which companies own the numbers (which the scammers also exploit).

As it is so easy to misrepresent a call ID number, you can place no trust whatsoever in using a caller ID number to identify the caller.

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @RAP46,

Thanks for your post and I am sorry to hear you've been receiving scam calls. 

We have some tips here that may help on how to handle these types of calls in future. 

Kind Regards