Scam Phonecall?

[CJH77]

I'm a VM broadband and telephone customer. I received two phonecalls this morning purporting to be from Virgin Media.

The caller was the same both times and was offering to guide me through a process to improve my broadband speed and reliability. The caller appeared to have an accent from the Indian subcontinent and was calling from what sounded like a busy call centre. Part way through, the first call cut off but the caller was persistent enough to call back (a different number showed up on my phone's screen).

I played along for a while. When I said my computer ran an Apple operating system she passed me onto a colleague who asked me to open "Terminal" on my laptop and start typing codes into that app. At that point I told them I thought it was a scam and hung up. No call back that time.

I've since spent nearly an hour on hold to VM trying to report the issue. There is no clear place on the website to report such scams. Frankly, VM don't appear remotely concerned to know when their name is being used in attempts to scam their own customers.

Posting so that others might approach any calls they receive with caution.

CH

[SH3user]

Reporting to action fraud via their website takes more time than the initial call. All I want to do is report the spoofed phone number and inform the authorities of the dodgy websites they want to send me to. The required information to do this is either irrelevant or so hard to find a relevant page I gave up this time part way through the process. Reporting emails to action fraud is simple but I hate the phone call, postal reporting method of reporting on their website. I do it for others who may not be aware of the scammers methods.

[goslow]

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@SH3user wrote:

Reporting to action fraud via their website takes more time than the initial call. All I want to do is report the spoofed phone number and inform the authorities of the dodgy websites they want to send me to. The required information to do this is either irrelevant or so hard to find a relevant page I gave up this time part way through the process. Reporting emails to action fraud is simple but I hate the phone call, postal reporting method of reporting on their website. I do it for others who may not be aware of the scammers methods.

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When I lasted look up this information, your choices (depending on what kind of call you are receiving) are

Abandoned calls/Silent calls>>OFCOM

https://ofcomforms.secure.force.com/formentry/SitesFormCCTSilentCalls

Spam text message (SMS), Recorded voice (automated call), Sales call from a real person (live call)>>ICO

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-texts-and-nuisance-calls/

Report a phishing attempt>>Action Fraud

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-phishing

None of the reporting processes are quick and the usefulness of reporting is debateable, unless you have actually been a victim of a crime. Reporting individual fake numbers is of limited use as they usually change regularly.

If you enjoy receiving the calls (for the purposes of stringing the scammers along) then you could continue to talk to them but it is worth being aware that provoking them may result in your own phone number being used as a fake caller ID which, in turn, will potentially see you receiving more calls from irate recipients of the scammers' calls who will think that you have been calling them.

IMHO, making yourself and your phone number as anonymous as possible to the scammers is the best bet by hanging up and not talking to them.

Were the two websites general sites for (legitimate) remote access software or customised sites owned by the scammers, for the purposes of committing fraud? VM may possibly have an interest in knowing about the latter.

One of the forum team should pick this up in a day or two and may take the details you have to offer via PM.

[Ayisha_B]

Hi @SH3user,

Thanks for your post. We know how incredibly frustrating this can be, we all get them from time to time. 

Our advise on handling these types of calls can be found here

Thank you for remaining vigilant.  

[juststeve]

I get these scam phone calls all the time now, only this morning I have had three calls within an hour and half!

[nodrogd]

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@juststeve wrote:

I get these scam phone calls all the time now, only this morning I have had three calls within an hour and half!

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It’s just a bot trying to get lucky. Just keep hanging up without talking & they fairly quickly move on.

[Zach_R]

Hi @juststeve,

I'm so sorry to hear you're getting some unwanted calls lately. If you haven't done so already, I'd advise signing up to the Telephone Preference Service to help minimise any unwanted scam calls. You can also find some further information here.
 

If you receive them on your Virgin Media landline, there's more information here.

Thanks,