Virgin Media Community

[Donna14]

I have just received a call from 02085490905, claiming to be from VM security dept, an actual person not automated, saying my broadband has had security issues. I was suspicious so hung up. I have been trying to contact VM regarding this, to check if it is a genuine call or a scam, but have been unable to get through to the relevant department. Any advice or help would be appreciated.

[goslow]

This was a scam call. VM do not make outbound support calls in this way to customers. They also do not require remote access to customer devices.

Now the scammers have spoken to you, it is almost certain they will try again. Best approach is to hang up and not talk to them.

[Donna14]

Hi, yes I now believe it was. I've just seen a similar post with a near identical phone number.

Thanks for putting my mind at rest!

Do you happen to know how VM would contact me if there was a genuine security issue? 

[goslow]

They would most likely write to you. For example, if you have a look through this forum, you will see several topics where customers have received letters regarding malware being detected as operating via VM customers' connections.

You may also very occasionally get a text message from VM if they are doing planned engineering works which will turn off your broadband connection. These texts are for information only and no response is required. These texts don't happen that often in my experience.

VM may also contact you for marketing purposes. If you don't want that, you can opt out by logging in to 'My Virgin Media'.

The scammers are now so prolific, and operate via so many different channels, that the only sensible approach is for you to make outbound contact with VM if you think you need to communicate with them for any reason.

[Oyster]

@ goslow Great post - I enjoyed reading it.
I thought it might be of interest for you to know that about 6  or 7 years ago I had a call from someone claiming to be from
VM. They were promising that if I just answered some questions I could win a prize. From the outset I was sceptical about this,
and asked what sort of prize. they wouldnt say. So I said, what do you want to know. They asked if anyone living at the address was an
emergency service worker, police, fire, ambulance, NHS nurse. At this point I told them, "sorry I do not believe VM would be interested in that inbformation" and ended the call.
I think a good thing to tell people is to always be sceptical if someone phones asking you for identifying information.
Like if someone phones asking what your passwords are, tell them, "you phoned me, I didnt phone you, so you should know"

Being wise to a scam is simply being wise to what ISP's, the police, etc tell you.
It is wise to sometimes google what scams are going around
and new methods of remaining safe