Beware Of This Very Convincing Scam

Hylander · January 27, 2021

My Sister has passed this on to me as happened to her son. (Sister is 82)

"Received a phone call from BT, informing me that he was disconnecting me because of an unpaid bill.. He demanded payment immediately of £31.00 or it would be £ 118.00 to re-connect at a later date. The guy wasn't even fazed when I told him I was with Virgin Media, allegedly VM have to pay BT a percentage for line rental! I asked the guy's name - he gave me the very 'English' John Peacock with a very 'African' accent - & phone number -0800 0800 152. Obviously the fellow realized I didn't believe his story, so offered to demonstrate that he was from BT. I asked how & he told me to hang up & try phoning someone - he would disconnect my phone to prevent this. AND HE DID !! My phone was dead - no engaged tone, nothing - until he phoned me again. Very pleased with himself, he asked if that was enough proof that he was with BT. I asked how the payment was to be made & he said credit card, there & then. I said that I didn't know how he'd done it, but I had absolutely no intention of paying him, I didn't believe his name or that he worked for BT. He hung up. I dialed 1471 -number withheld I phoned his fictitious 0800 number - not recognized. So I phoned the police to let them know. I wasn't the first! It's only just started apparently, but it is escalating. Their advice was to let as many people as possible know of this scam. The fact that the phone does go off would probably convince some people it's real, so please make as many friends & family aware of this. How is it done? This is good but not that clever. He gave the wrong number - it should have been 0800 800 152 which takes you through to BT Business. The cutting off of the line is very simple, he stays on the line with the mute button on and you can't dial out - but he can hear you trying. (This is because the person who initiates a call is the one to terminate it). When you stop trying he cuts off and immediately calls back. You could almost be convinced! The sad thing is that it is so simple that it will certainly fool many. By the way this is not about getting the cash as this would not get past merchant services - it is all about getting the credit card details which include the security number, to be used for larger purchases. Please Copy And Paste

Chelsea14Ian · January 27, 2021

Thanks for letting us know.But I've said many times,if I dont recognize the number I won't answer.If its important they will phone again.These low life will spend all day phoning at random, on the off chance that they will catch someone off guard.

chrisdobson45 · January 27, 2021

I received a call on our landline yesterday from "Jonathon" who stated he was from Virgin Media and it had been noticed that there had been unauthorised access to or broadband from foreign IP addresses since the weekend. I wasn't to worry as he would sort it out for me.

I immediately queried how could I be assured he was from Virgin Media, he offered me his Virgin Media vendor security reference number, but me calling Virgin Media to get help wasn't possible, he worked for a special department within Virgin Media and couldn't be connected via the "normal ways".

At the time of this call I was part way through a web chat with Virgin Media technical services, sorting out an unrelated issue so I diverted the chat to deal with the call. The live chat confirmed the call was a scam, and we managed to keep "Jonathon" on the call for 15 minutes, he kept repeatedly asking for three (different) digits of my security number and then needed answers to other security questions (first pet, mother's maiden name, first school, etc). Each time I gave an answer (completely fictitious) he would tell me the answer was incorrect and needed to ask another question, clearly attempting to harvest the security information for the account. He then cut the call when I refused to confirm my email address and postcode.

I could have invested another hour in wasting his time. Whilst he was attempting to scam me he wasn't scamming anyone else.

The scripting was pretty close to what you'd expect if you had to contact Virgin Media directly via 150 or engaged in a web chat with them. I suppose this may be a reflection of how poor Virgin Media's telephone support is rather than the potential scammer being particularly good...

grendel · January 27, 2021

I just love it when I get one with the microsoft scam, telling me there is a problem with my computer, first I ask them which one, then when they say the one I am using at the moment, so again I say which one, I have 4 computers running in active use at this moment (actually I have 8 running) then i let him progress a bit further, leading him along a bit, then he tells me to click this and tell him the value (its a standard thing that returns a specific value, except mine doesnt, this puzzles him, then i drop the bombshell, and tell him, well no it wouldnt be, as I am running Linux, not microsoft, if this doesnt phase him, I will inform him that the trace I have on his location is nearly complete and that I will be passing the data on to the fbi, this usually has them hanging up and never have I had the same lot try and contact me again as I am sure they flag my number as not one to call. if i am lucky this will have kept him on the line for nearly 20 minutes.