cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Scam Phone calls and Zoho

Anonymous
Not applicable

Yesterday 21/10/20 I had 2 phone calls on my landline (ex-directory) allegedly from Virgin Media. The lines were very noisy and the callers were Asian one was a male and the other a female. I told the male to go away, but took the later call from the female. She stated that my broadband had been fluctuating recently and that they were calling to fix it, (this has been occurring but I had not reported it). She then asked me to join Zoho.eu and gave me a session id, I then had to input my name. I asked her for my account number if she was from Virgin media which she said would be displayed after I had input my name. I again asked for my account number and at this she hung up. The STD code on the callers line was from Bedford, UK. Unfortunately I did not write down the session id number so Zoho.eu which is a genuine firm could not trace the caller. This was obviously a scam / phishing attempt. After all why would a Broadband provider like Virgin have to use 3rd party software to take over a remote PC.  

15 REPLIES 15

HowardML
Superuser Emeritus
Superuser Emeritus
Of course its a scam, and getting more sophisticated by the day. The scammers are untraceable. Great that you have posted about it to alert others. Best response, always put the phone down. Don't ask questions. Just disconnect.


I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more

Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

paultechy
Alessandro Volta
When i worked for virginmedia used 123rescue no idea what they're using these days

用心棒
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Reviewing browser history may reveal the session ID (or other useful detail) in the URL.

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

Itsadoozy
Tuning in

I had the same scam call 28th Oct to my Virgin Media landline. The originating number was 01134135942.

The first caller was female with an Indian accent claiming to be from VM. Suggested there were errors and speed issues and getting me to check lights on router. 

Really bad English and didn’t know what to do if she went off script. I pretended I couldn’t do the things she asked on the ‘main device’. She put me through to a male, also Indian.

He asked me to visit Speedtest.net to run a check. The the really dodgy part. He asked me to visit Join.zoho.eu which would allow remote access to my laptop.

At this point I just kept telling him I was typing the wrong URL. Every time he said ‘U for umbrella’ I said I typed umbrella but it doesn’t work. This really would him up, he eventually started swearing and put the phone down 😆

 

用心棒
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

IMHO it is best not to engage with such callers, just terminate the call.

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

I agree for the general public, however I work in Cybersecurity so know their tricks. I’d rather tie them up on a time wasting call with me than allow them to succeed with a real victim.

greddyuk
Joining in

I just had a phonemail claiming they are Virgin Media - most probably from India or Pakistan or Bangladesh from the accent.

They ask me to check the router speed, which I checked and I was getting 70mbs, then they say that the speed is slow and that it needs an upgrade on the router.

They asked me to go into the browser and type join.zoho.com - at this point - I thought it was strange - I asked them to prove to me that they are VM - I asked them to provide me with me account number and they gave me a lot of rubbish about they don't have access to my account - and insisted that I type in the soho.com website to verify they are Virgin Media - I told them I'm uncomfortable to proceed and I will call virgin media directly to confirm this call - the person on the phone then says - F-off!

 

Be vigilant and careful out there - there's many type of scams and remember - nothings free in this world - whatever is free - there's a hidden trap within!!

I have just received one of these calls - identical lead up to me starting to input the zoho site in my browser.  I was very wary up to this point but did believe it could still be VM.  Luckily, at this point as I'm putting the site address in digit by digit, my Google Chrome gave me a list of the most used sites and I noticed one said "zoho scam" and I was even more worried, so I fudged my phone call whilst I clicked on the zoho scam link instead of completing the web site as she was instructing me.  Thank goodness I did - I very quickly put the phone down!  They are very persistent, I belive they were behind 4-5 empty calls (no-one there) yesterday and I've already received another empty call while I'm typing this!!!  Very, very sophisticated!

Cleves54
Joining in

This is my first time posting on here,I’ve done it because I’m so angry.

I live at home with my parents and we have just received three calls (16th January 2021) apparently from Virgin Media. It certainly wasn’t VM. The first two calls the caller hung up,the third call I answered. Lady asked me to log onto my laptop and run a ‘speed check’. She then passed my call onto a ‘senior supervisor’,who explained the same thing. She wanted me to download something onto my computer,which I didn’t do. When I told her my computer had crashed (which of course it hadn’t) and that I’d have to start over again,she started shouting calling me a time water,and then called me a [REMOVED]
Seconds later a man came onto the phone claiming he was a ‘senior engineer’. When I told him what she had said he started shouting at her,and then apologised to me. Told him I didn’t want his apology. He kept trying to interrupt me,and at this point my blood was boiling. He even offered to send me apology letter in the post. I told him I was terminating the call and contacting Virgin Media,at which point he told me that if I terminate the call my internet would be disconnected because of a security/data breach. 
My parents are in there 70’s and are not silly people,but some people may fall for this scam. Please be careful. 

[MOD EDIT: Inappropriate language removed, please review the Forum Guidelines]