Virgin media phone scam

[BSKBoat]

What is Virgin Media doing about the current phone scam where customers are called after reporting a fault to Virgin? 
The caller claims to be from customer support and asks for access to their computer. They know the fault too.  During the call, the customer is then asked for their bank details as they have to pay for the repair or they will get a refund.

We have been informed of this scam by OWL messaging from our local police, on Monday 10th May. Their message says they have referred the issue to Virgin Media.  

2 people  We know have already been approached.  Unfortunately, the customers, gave access to their computers. Fortunately, neither gave bank details, but the scammer became abusive, which alerted the friends to the possibility of the call being a scam.  Also, the scammer managed to obtain the contacts list during the takeover, and has followed up by sending abusive emails to family members.  
Why have Virgin not notified it’s customers about this and warned them not to allow access or pay anything.

[goslow]

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@BSKBoat wrote:

What is Virgin Media doing about the current phone scam where customers are called after reporting a fault to Virgin? 
<snip>

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The tech support and refund scams are very common and well-documented on the VM forums and elsewhere. Haven't heard mention on here though of the scenario described above.

The scammers' routine relies heavily on coincidence, intuitive guesswork based on responses from the victim and from information gathered from elsewhere about the victim. It is not too hard to make guesses at the sort of problems a customer might have had such as slow speed, poor wifi, unreliable connection etc.

The most useful bit of info for VM customers to know is that VM do not make these types of unsolicited tech support calls out of the blue.

Coupling that with the general tell-tale signs of a scam call

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/suspicious-email-actions#section_4

should go a long way to deal with many scamming scenarios.

[nodrogd]

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@BSKBoat wrote:

What is Virgin Media doing about the current phone scam where customers are called after reporting a fault to Virgin? 
The caller claims to be from customer support and asks for access to their computer. They know the fault too.  During the call, the customer is then asked for their bank details as they have to pay for the repair or they will get a refund.

We have been informed of this scam by OWL messaging from our local police, on Monday 10th May. Their message says they have referred the issue to Virgin Media.  

2 people  We know have already been approached.  Unfortunately, the customers, gave access to their computers. Fortunately, neither gave bank details, but the scammer became abusive, which alerted the friends to the possibility of the call being a scam.  Also, the scammer managed to obtain the contacts list during the takeover, and has followed up by sending abusive emails to family members.  
Why have Virgin not notified it’s customers about this and warned them not to allow access or pay anything.

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These scammers operate from call centres in India, so UK authorities can do very little. The calls are random & are unlikely related to any fault you already have, as the scammers are only assuming you are a VM customer due to your number allocation being in VMs "pool" of numbers. There are no easy ways to block these calls on our current analogue phone infrastructure, which was not built to interface with internet standard VoIP or modern security software. Hence we have to wait for landline DSO in 2025.

[Akua_A]

Hi @BSKBoat,

Welcome back to our community forums. 

Sorry to hear about these scam calls. Have you experienced this yourself? Were any personal details given or did they get access to your devices?  You may find the following link useful https://www.virginmedia.com/help/fraudulent-calls .

Please get back to us when you can.

Thanks,

[BSKBoat]

hi Akua, I haven't, personally,  but someone I know did receive a phone call.  The message came to us via Hertfordshire Police. The message was:

Virgin Media Faults – Telephone Scam
 Dear Watch Member,

Our victim support team have alerted us to a Virgin Media scam that seems to be trending. Recent victims have all said the same: they have reported a fault to Virgin Media and then received a call from someone purporting to be from Virgin in relation to the reported fault.

This is extremely worrying because the victims believe they are talking to the genuine company.  One victim reported a fault to Virgin Media on the Friday and was advised they would receive a call on Monday. The victim did indeed receive a call on the Monday, but sadly it was from the scammer, and lost a considerable amount of money. The scammers are either asking for remote control access to the victim’s computer or asking for bank details.

We have received numerous reports over recent days. This matter has been referred to Virgin Media. 

Please be alert to this scam and warn others.  Service Providers would never ask for bank details in such circumstances, nor should they require access to customer’s computers/devices.

If you wish to report a Fraud go to www.actionfraud.police.uk 

[Akua_A]

Thank you for letting us know @BSKBoat.

Our relevant teams are currently looking into this.

Those affected may find this link useful  https://www.virginmedia.com/help/fraudulent-calls . Also please let us know if theses calls persist or if you need any further help.

Thanks,

[coenoby]

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@BSKBoat wrote:

 What is Virgin Media doing about the current phone scam where customers are called after reporting a fault to Virgin? 

The message came to us via Hertfordshire Police.

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In that case a criminal investigation is already be underway and Hertfordshire police will have been in contact with Virgin Media directly. That is surely the correct way this should be dealt with rather than it being handled internally by VM?

Coenoby