Spoof phone call

[Steve_M]

I just had a phone call with the calling number shown as 02036428xxx. It came from a call centre and it was an Indian sounding woman on the phone.  She read a spiel about my Virgin broadband being compromised by some illegal activity.  Then she wanted me to go and see how many lights were flashing on the router.  I had listened to her for a while but couldn’t be bothered with it any more so hung up.

This call was interesting as it mentioned Virgin broadband.  Mostly calls I get are about problems with my BT broadband (which I don’t have).  

I would like to know what Virgin Media intend to do about the scourge of nuisance calls, which we get a lot of.  In fact we don’t normally answer the phone unless we recognise the number calling.

[MOD EDIT: number edited in case it's an innocent number being spoofed]

[Paulina_Z]

Hi @Steve_M,

Welcome back to our Community Forums. Thank you for your post and I'm sorry to hear that you're impacted by regular fraud calls!

I can understand how frustrating this can be. 

Please take a look at our Landline Fraud calls page to see how else you can protect yourself against Fraud calls here: https://virg.in/fraudcalls.

Please let us know if there's anything else we can do to help.

Tanks,

[nodrogd]

In short there is not a lot Virgin or any other provider can do. These scammers operate out of India (ignore any number on caller display. It does not belong to the scammer that is using it) & use internet calling software to route the calls through to the UK.

They then enter our old analogue phone system using the 150 year old technology that runs our current landline system. This has no security system whatsoever, & never will have. When will this be fixed? Well, sometime in 2025 or thereafter when the new digital system comes in & we are all be using the internet to send & receive calls.

[goslow]

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@Steve_M wrote:

I just had a phone call with the calling number shown as 02036428xxx. It came from a call centre and it was an Indian sounding woman on the phone.  She read a spiel about my Virgin broadband being compromised by some illegal activity.  <snip>

I would like to know what Virgin Media intend to do about the scourge of nuisance calls, which we get a lot of.  In fact we don’t normally answer the phone unless we recognise the number calling.

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Unfortunately, there is not too much help to be had from VM on this subject under the present telephony arrangements. I have used this device for the last 1+ year

https://www.truecall.co.uk/category-s/116.htm

and it has eliminated scam calls ringing my phone. It requires the caller to press a key on their keypad and state who they are before my phone rings. The automated scam diallers cannot do this task and so the automated scam calls are dropped without my phone ringing. Known callers from your address book can be programmed into the device and they ring straight through uninterrupted without the screening process.

Some BT phones also have trueCall technology built in and work in a similar way but without quite so many features as the standalone device (trueCall branding will be mentioned in the BT product description).

[Steve_M]

Thank you Goslow, I am aware of the TrueCall devices and have wondered if its worth buying one.  Is the outgoing message sufficiently clear so that genuine callers understand and get put through?

[goslow]

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@Steve_M wrote:

Thank you Goslow, I am aware of the TrueCall devices and have wondered if its worth buying one.  Is the outgoing message sufficiently clear so that genuine callers understand and get put through?

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You can view the manual here

http://www.truecall38.co.uk/manuals/callblocker.pdf

some of the voice prompts are fixed and some you can record your own personal messages. You can read what the prompts are in the manual and how the device works. It is an 'easy-read', not too technical.

Once you have programmed the device with your known contacts, they get through immediately with no screening. Legitimate callers who might withhold their number (such as doctors and hospitals) are screened but can still get through by simply saying their name and pressing a key on the phone keypad.

The device works best with cordless phones. Plug the cordless base station into the trueCall device and the trueCall device into the phone socket. You want all phones to be connected through the trueCall unit so that all phones are covered by the screening process which prevents the home phone ringing for scam callers.

I believe it is possible to connect wired extensions from the back of the unit for wired internal extension sockets around the house but that would probably be a fiddle to set up for most people.

IMO, the advantage of the standalone device over the BT phones which use trueCall technology is the ability to customise the standalone device. trueCall support can, if required, remotely access the device and tweak the configuration to suit the particular line it is connected to for things such as correct caller ID recognition (essential for the device to work). There have been a couple of mentions on the forums of some VM customers having issues with VM caller ID on VM landlines. In those cases, trueCall support were able to dial in to the unit and modify the setup to work on the VM line.

There is an optional online feature (free for first year and something like £20 p.a. thereafter) which allows you to remotely administer the device via a web interface and see calls coming in/out on the line. I have never used that and have just set it up via the device itself. The only one thing to be aware of with the web interface is that periodically the device is set to 'phone home' to transfer call data to the trueCall server. This needs to be set to do so during free call time on the landline. These update calls are only a few minutes but some users have been caught out with small unexpected phone call charges when it had dialled out during chargeable times.

Apart from the above considerations, I have found it to be 100% successful at doing its job. I was previously receiving 3 to 4 automated scam calls per day at their worst. I now get none. Friends and family numbers programmed into the device get through no problem and without screening.

If you are thinking of getting one, buy from somewhere with a good returns policy so that if you run into any difficulties with it or don’t get on with it you can always return it.