Internet scam?

[John BaguleyParticipant @johnbaguley78655]

I have just had a phone call from an indian lady claiming to be from BT.

She said she was ringing to let me know that 'someone' was trying to hack my internet connection and was I aware of this. After a few questions from her I decided that the call sounded rather suspicious and put the phone down.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Just wondering if it is some sort of scam.

John

[John BaguleyParticipant @johnbaguley78655]

Suspicious phone call

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

John

Seems to be a regular occurance with BT customers, my sister receives the same type of calls on a regular basis.

Treat all such calls as scammers and do as you did, just hang up. If BT want to contact you they have email details and your complete address.

Emgee

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

They do this to everyone, it's not good enough to just want to be left alone anymore!

Michael W

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

I do wish these people would use native English speakers, I get really annoyed that they can't be bothered to try to scam me a way that I can actually understand, the ones I get always speak in largely unintelligible English which is really frustrating.

Tony

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

I get these jokers all the time, as well as the crooks pretending to be representatives of Microsoft and wanting to "talk to me about my computer." My stock reply is "f….. off!", in the hope they leave a note on their database "do not phone this man, he is incredibly rude." The tactic doesn't seem to work……

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I sometimes see how long I can keep them on the phone by giving answers which are just the wrong side of bizarre. Record so far is over 20 minutes. At least he wasn't ripping anyone else off in that time. Usually just put the receiver on the table, don't hang up, it wastes more of their time until they realise they are talking to a void.

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

I've had a call from 'from' TalkTalk claiming that there were line problems and he needed to take over my PC to check. I got suspicious and hung up but he 'phoned again within minutes to ask why I'd hung up. I hung up again and called TalkTalk who confirmed it was a scam and blocked the caller for me.

Brian

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The last time someone rang me from India about my Microsoft Computer, I just said "I didn't know Miicrosoft were giving away computers, when will it arrive", click–silence. I have in the past said what computer, didn't know I had one, what is the email address? Click, silence.

Ian S C

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

I had one phone call that was very convincing, for a while, from a bunch claiming to be the 'Telephone Preference Service'. They claimed to be doing a service satisfaction audit on how effective the TPS was. When they asked for bank details is when the penny dropped & so did the handset.

Regards,

Richard.

[John BaguleyParticipant @johnbaguley78655]

Thanks chaps.

The number did come up as 'unavailable' and I normally ignore these but I was expecting a call from the local doctor's surgery (which usually come up as 'number witheld) so I answered it.

I shall carry on ignoring the 'number unavailable' calls in the future

John

[Micky TParticipant @mickyt]

My elderley dad had a call from an indian person claiming that he had a problem with his windows. My dad replied that his windows looked just fine and had only recently been replaced there was a pause followed by a click as the caller hung up

Mick

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I had one a couple of days ago. Immediately suspicious as I'm not with BT

My scepticism must have been obvious as my (polite) reply caused them to hang up immediately.

This was a call centre (you could hear the background noise) which must have been full of otherwise perfectly normal people, busily scamming thousands of pounds out of vulnerable people. I do wonder just what circumstances the 'criminals' find themselves in and who the real villains are and why no effort seems to be made to track them down (It can't be hard to track back and find a call centre making so many calls).

Neil

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by John Baguley on 30/05/2017 10:35:02:

I have just had a phone call from an indian

I hang up at this point, based on repeated past experience.

[BERT ASHTONParticipant @bertashton57372]

If you have a BT landline and BT internet you can use the BT Call Protect service,

this is for free. You just go on line to see what calls you have received the blacklist

the ones you don't recognize.

[John FlackParticipant @johnflack59079]

Telling the caller that, what ever they want is the responsibility of the ' landlord' works very well in my experience

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

These calls are run by organised groups. They can change the phone number on the caller ID to make it look like it is a UK based number and I believe can even display Talk Talk / BT's number. If you get any calls from any company it is best to ring them on a number that you have verified.

Regards.

David.

[steveteeParticipant @stevetee]

At my work I receive these calls, sometimes more often than daily either a vindoos problem or to do with my electricity contract. I've now started saying that the business has closed and that they have come through to the security ofice and that the business has folded owing thousands and would they like to leave me their number so the police can get in touch with them , CLick. Sometimes I tell them that ( my name ) is no longer working for the company and they need to speak to Mr Pramshed, and they dutifully write it down, basically wind them up as long as possible . If you let them they will take you for every penny. Action fraud reports losses of £691,000 in 2015 .

[JezParticipant @jez]

Tom Mabe had a good way of dealing with cold callers:

Maybe NSFW…

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 30/05/2017 13:00:44:

I do wonder just what circumstances the 'criminals' find themselves in and who the real villains are and why no effort seems to be made to track them down (It can't be hard to track back and find a call centre making so many calls).

Neil

Yeah it is interesting, I'm sure they flout the law by edging on the side of technical legality, i'm sure if there was a place doing that much business but in drugs rather than scams they would get piled on like a ton of concrete from the police.

Michael W

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

I've had quite a few Microsoft virus type calls & I like to string them along for as long as I can when I have the time.

It's not always India to blame, lots of these calls are originating in the Phillipines / Indonesia & not all of the callers are aware themselves that it is a scam. I've had some very long, very informative conversations with a few who get really taken aback when I ask them "how does your father & mother feel about the job you are doing" !

Some of them really do think they're working for a call centre company contracted by a huge western corporation, which sadly isn't unusual out there.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I've found the best way to stop these call's and all other unwanted calls is to fit a phone with call guardian, most calls use auto diallers and your picked at random. All my wife and I get now is calls we want from friends and family.

Martin P

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

We don't answer any unknown numbers. Genuine callers leave a message. Answering these calls gets you on lists of people who answer so you get more calls. I check unknown numbers on line and most of them are reported as scams or telesales. Had the first one in at least 2 weeks today from a union. No doubt wanting to sell me something at preferential rates.

Martin C

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

"Withheld" or "Unavailable" numbers tend not to be answered, (sadly some friends have their numbers withheld).

If we do find a scammer on the line (often using a 0203 or 0204 number to look believable) "Mr Levis" is in the garden and the caller is asked to hold while he is fetched. This often takes so long that the caller has hung up by the time that he "arrives". But their bill has been increased, and someone else has not been pestered.

There is a an oriental lady with a melodious voice who offered to reclaim bank charges from Barclays. When told that I was not a customer, she suggested, querulously "Natwest?" Not sure that she liked being told that she was a scammer., trying phishing.

Sometime I must try my limited German on one of these callers. Serbo Croat might be understood by some of the callers. Swahili, or Navaho could be a good mode of communication? MUST go on a language course!

Howard

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