Scam Telephone Call Pretending To Be Virgin Media ?

[RobCheatle]

I am getting repeated calls, clearly originating in the Far East, suggesting that I have a problem with my Router and wanting me to give them access to my router.

This felt like a scam. I have had three calls just today.

The number given after calling 1471 is 01472325599.

Any ideas?

[goslow]

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@jonmd wrote:

This has happened to me a few times in the last few days. I am concerned Virgin Media may have had a data breach, because we have never given our landline number to anyone, and they somehow know we are with Virgin Media. I have raised it as a complaint and I expect it to be investigated. Obviously it is a scam/spam phone call, but I am extremely concerned about how they got the number and knew it was a VM number. 

The calls we have been getting originate from overseas according to the caller display.

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Read message #49 immediately above your post which provides an explanation for the calls.

[jonmd]

@goslow, thank you, that makes sense.

[Lee_R]

Hi @jonmd thanks for posting.

I have read @goslow explanation and there's not really a lot I can add.  The callers are operating on a "dialler" system and therefore are not even manually dialling your your number.  I am sorry for any inconvenience these calls may be causing.
Regards

Lee_R

[bw41101]

Hi Jonmd

You could try answer 33 on this topic - I have and it worked for me.

Another thing as well, you may have also had calls whereupon there's silence from the scammer, I.e. nobody speaks? If yes, then this may have been from an automated dallier which (when you say hello) then hangs up immediately. It is the scammer's method of determining the time when you are home and that your number is active.

A trick I have found to deal with this, is to store a long repetitive string of numbers, for example (I use the following which if pressed accidentally doesn't connect with anyone) - 6565656565656565656565656565 in your phone's memory so when you get one of these auto dialler calls - don't speak, just select your random number sequence instead. This (being of digital origin) seems to confuse the scammer's auto dallier and has worked for me.

Give it a try - nothing to lose.

Cheers

bw

[jonmd]

Thanks bw, that’s a great suggestion with the random numbers I’ll give it a go along with message 33!

[nodrogd]

These calls usually terminate if an answerphone is detected, so if you speak continuously instead of just saying "Hello" you may find the call drops straight away.

[DaveG53]

Just logging that today I too received a call from an Indian sounding gentlemen called Henry. He said he was calling with the permission of VM to fix speed problems with my internet connection. My initial thought was that it was a scam, but like many others it seems, the quality of my broadband connection has been very inconsistent just recently. However, I followed on with the call which was from 02083270879: an unregistered London number. Dragging my feet and pretending to be very slow, hard of hearing and not very computer literate, we got to the point where I had started my laptop, logged in and pressed WinKey R. I asked him various questions about where he was calling from, how this process was going  to fix my internet connection.. most of which he avoided. Anyway at the Run prompt I said that I wasn't very comfortable with what he was asking me to do and that I wanted to ring VM to check out the call. At this point he got very aggressive. Needless to say the call was then terminated with with 20mins of his time wasted.

[nodrogd]

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@DaveG53 wrote:

Just logging that today I too received a call from an Indian sounding gentlemen called Henry. He said he was calling with the permission of VM to fix speed problems with my internet connection. My initial thought was that it was a scam, but like many others it seems, the quality of my broadband connection has been very inconsistent just recently. However, I followed on with the call which was from 02083270879: an unregistered London number. Dragging my feet and pretending to be very slow, hard of hearing and not very computer literate, we got to the point where I had started my laptop, logged in and pressed WinKey R. I asked him various questions about where he was calling from, how this process was going  to fix my internet connection.. most of which he avoided. Anyway at the Run prompt I said that I wasn't very comfortable with what he was asking me to do and that I wanted to ring VM to check out the call. At this point he got very aggressive. Needless to say the call was then terminated with with 20mins of his time wasted.

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While the number above does not have a current user, it is allocated to BT, so could have had one. More & more now scammers are cloning numbers that are actually in use. Posters then unwittingly post these numbers on public forums where other dodgy characters then harvest them for other malicious or nuisance purposes.

Please beware.

[lordsmorg]

I am getting plagued my these calls on our work phone, but we are also expecting genuine calls from VM, so fortunately the easiest way to weed out the scams, is to confirm they are calling from VM, then ask them to tell you your account number, at which point the scam immediately hang up, whereas the VM team will actually want to go through security 

[Robert_P]

Hello lordsmorg

Thanks for sharing your experience and how you have dealt with calls of these types. 

If you have the numbers you have been called from that weren't Virgin Media we'll be happy to get these added to the current investigation. We also have these general tips one how to deal with call of this nature.

Rob