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Scam or real upgrade.

Lunartick
Tuning in

I have received two telephone calls in two days supposedly from VirginMedia saying they want an engineer to call to arrange an upgrade.
My connection has been very troublesome over the last few weeks where my router keeps dropping the connection and I keep getting the buffering symbol on my tv and computer. I am very suspicious about the phone call due to the foreign accent and on both occasions have hung up the phone.

It is very difficult to figure out whether these calls are scam or whether Virgin has actually picked up on my problems and are trying to affect a repair. Some guidance would be useful.
Regards

LT  

8 REPLIES 8

goslow
Alessandro Volta

@Lunartick wrote:

I have received two telephone calls in two days supposedly from VirginMedia saying they want an engineer to call to arrange an upgrade.
My connection has been very troublesome over the last few weeks where my router keeps dropping the connection and I keep getting the buffering symbol on my tv and computer. I am very suspicious about the phone call due to the foreign accent and on both occasions have hung up the phone.

It is very difficult to figure out whether these calls are scam or whether Virgin has actually picked up on my problems and are trying to affect a repair. Some guidance would be useful.
Regards

LT  


You are right to be wary of such calls.

Have you previously made an outbound call yourself to VM to register the problems with your connection?

Scam callers regularly use the line 'we have detected problems with your router' etc. and offer to send an (imaginary) engineer.

VM don't make unsolicited tech support calls out of the blue offering to fix faults/problems.

An outside possibility may be to do with the VM phone switchover programme. Have you received any emails or letters from VM regarding moving your VM phone connection to a phone service via the back of the VM hub (if you are not already connected that way for VM phone)?

No, no outbound call.
But have run connection checks a couple of times.

LT

goslow
Alessandro Volta

@Lunartick wrote:

No, no outbound call.
But have run connection checks a couple of times.

LT


And does your VM phone connect from the back of the VM hub or a conventional telephone wall socket?

Re previous reply.

'VM regarding moving your VM phone connection to a phone service via the back of the VM hub'

I do seem to remember something of this nature being mentioned on the phone, but when I was asked for my account pass phrase I became suspicious and hung up. We see and hear so many things about scam calls from foreign lands it is so difficult to know what is real and what is fake when receiving calls from people that can barely speak English.

LT

My phone connects to a conventional wall socket and not to my virgin box.

goslow
Alessandro Volta

@Lunartick wrote:

My phone connects to a conventional wall socket and not to my virgin box.


Quite true about being cautious.

If you are currently using a phone via a wall socket, and the caller mentioned VM's phone switchover and arranging an engineer, this could be in relation to VM's phone switchover

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-Phone-Switchover/gh-p/Switchover

You should have received a notification email or letter about this happening from VM.

You could make an outbound call to VM using 150 from your VM landline to find out more.

Alternatively, a VM forum team member will reply here within a few days and will be able to look at your account and advise.

The VM forum team member should also be able to look at your connection remotely at the same time to see if there is anything causing your connectivity issues.

newapollo
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@Lunartick wrote:

Re previous reply.

'VM regarding moving your VM phone connection to a phone service via the back of the VM hub'

I do seem to remember something of this nature being mentioned on the phone, but when I was asked for my account pass phrase I became suspicious and hung up. We see and hear so many things about scam calls from foreign lands it is so difficult to know what is real and what is fake when receiving calls from people that can barely speak English.

LT


VM shouldn't be asking for the account pass phrase.

VM agents would ask for 3 characters from your memorable word/pass phrase.

Dave
I don't work for Virgin Media.
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge.
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Hello Lunartick,

 

As newapollo has already advised, we would only ever ask you for three random characters from a memorable word the agent can't see. We wouldn't ask you for the full memorable word or arrange an engineer for an upgrade in most instances without discussing the upgrade with yourself.

 

We have some help here for call of this nature and how to deal with them.

 

Rob