A different "internet" phone call scam, for a change

[Gojira]

So, like presumably everyone else on the planet I get the "There is a problem with the use of your internet - press 9 to continue, or you will be cut off in 48 hours!" scam calls fairly regularly.

The one this morning was different....

What sounded like a real, live, human!

"Hello, this is Virgin Media, there is a problem with your internet. Are you the main user?"

"Can you confirm you are from Virgin Media?"

"If you are in front of a device connected to the internet, I can show you..."

"Can you confirm you are from Virgin Media? If you are, you should be able to confirm my address to me"

"If you are in front of a device connected to the internet, I can show you..."

"If you can't confirm you are from Virgin Media, I think this is a scam!"

Click...

As it was the first time in a long time I've had a real human trying this on, I thought it might be worth mentioning, just to warn folks.

[Europa1]

I've had similar, but they claimed to be from Microsoft. Very persistent, gave me a ticket number, his employee name, explained that the reason dialling 1471 hadn't worked was that they used VoIP....it was a good 15-20 minutes before I got to start the "special skills" speeach from Taken.

[FunkyNige]

I also got an odd one a couple of days ago - the lady said she was from Sky technical department and that my connection has been bad recently so could I tell her the colour of the lights on the router. I said they were orange (I have no idea, I was sat nowhere near it), she asked how many devices were connected so I rattled off a random list and she asked me to turn off my laptop(?). I got a bit bored at this point and just told her no, but part of me wishes I played along a bit longer to see what the scam was as I've never heard of one telling you to turn OFF a laptop before!
Or maybe she actually was from Sky and was genuinely trying to help.

[bristolracer]

Recently I've had
Bt
Microsoft
The inland revenue threatening court action
This weeks new one is the Amazon prime subscription renewal one

I used to take the Mickey, but now I'm just rude to them, they are trying to steal from you and they have no scruples stealing from the elderly and the innocent.
fk them and I hope they die painful deaths.

[Skyedriver]

bristolracer said:

Recently I've had
Bt
Microsoft
The inland revenue threatening court action
This weeks new one is the Amazon prime subscription renewal one

I used to take the Mickey, but now I'm just rude to them, they are trying to steal from you and they have no scruples stealing from the elderly and the innocent.
fk them and I hope they die painful deaths.

We had the Amazon one last week
Wife answered, she doesn't have an account but I do
ignored it
I usually wind them up, yes had an accident etc etc

But if its on my mobile I usually just tell them to f-off i a VERY loud voice

[CubanPete]

Haven't had any scam ones for a long time.

The most recent accident lawyer who'd heard I was in a recent accident met with 'Thank God you've called back, I'm in agony,how much longer are you going to be, my legs are trapped and bleeding, I feel feint...' it went on. He apologized for not being able to help.

[Monkeylegend]

I have started to ask these callers for the 1st and 3rd letter of their password and their Mothers maiden name.
It does confuse them a bit.

[Europa1]

bristolracer said:

Recently I've had
Bt
Microsoft
The inland revenue threatening court action
This weeks new one is the Amazon prime subscription renewal one

I used to take the Mickey, but now I'm just rude to them, they are trying to steal from you and they have no scruples stealing from the elderly and the innocent.
fk them and I hope they die painful deaths.

Ah, yes, HMRC. I've had messages about arrest warrants and my case officer.

They are utter, lowlife scum, trying to prey on people. I'm only aware of them because I now work from home most of the time, it's an almost daily occurrence. What worries me is you can see how people could be taken in - my mum is retired, not tech-savvy at all, and I worry that these scumbags will call her and she'll get suckered in.

[Johnnytheboy]

Said it before, just pretend to be hard of hearing. Can string that along a treat.

[Turn7]

Not phone calls, but lots of "failed payment" emails

VM, TV Licence etc etc

[Europa1]

Johnnytheboy said:

Said it before, just pretend to be hard of hearing. Can string that along a treat.

Yep, I now figure I may as well try and waste as much of their time as I possibly can.

[Robertj21a]

As someone who gets few calls, it's much easier to not answer the phone.
Just leave any genuine cases to record their message or ensure that good friends and relatives know to give 2 rings first.

[snuffy]

Europa1 said:

...it was a good 15-20 minutes before I got to start the "special skills" speeach from Taken.

Is it not just me that they call a cock sucker then?

[Baldchap]

We got a very realistic looking Tesco Clubcard scam email this week. Apparently someone had tried to spend our points and we needed to call the (0800) number to sort it out. Presumably a phishing scam or some sort.

Would have been a good one if we had a clubcard.

Be careful out there chaps and chapettes.

[IanJ9375]

Basically no one ever phones you unless it's a scam or the wrong number or an actual relative I've found - and I don't trust some of those distant family members initially either lol

[Sheepshanks]

IanJ9375 said:

Basically no one ever phones you unless it's a scam or the wrong number or an actual relative I've found - and I don't trust some of those distant family members initially either lol

I work from home - don't get a lot of calls, but these scam calls are a right pain.

Caller display on my old BT Relate phone often displays a normal looking UK number, but will then say "International" so I ignore those. But wife is looking after her elderly Dad and any medical related caller always has their number withheld.

New one on me that's been happening for a few weeks is something about a £600 foreign transaction on our credit card.

[cobra kid]

IanJ9375 said:

Basically no one ever phones you unless it's a scam or the wrong number or an actual relative I've found - and I don't trust some of those distant family members initially either lol

Unless it's the 0800 number from Virgin Media retention team!

[robbocop33]

FunkyNige said:

I also got an odd one a couple of days ago - the lady said she was from Sky technical department and that my connection has been bad recently so could I tell her the colour of the lights on the router. I said they were orange (I have no idea, I was sat nowhere near it), she asked how many devices were connected so I rattled off a random list and she asked me to turn off my laptop(?). I got a bit bored at this point and just told her no, but part of me wishes I played along a bit longer to see what the scam was as I've never heard of one telling you to turn OFF a laptop before!
Or maybe she actually was from Sky and was genuinely trying to help.

I'd fall for that one hook,line and sinker,as my connection is always diabolical!

[Sheepshanks]

robbocop33 said:

I'd fall for that one hook,line and sinker,as my connection is always diabolical!

That's what happened to my father-in-law - he's with BT but he'd been having connection problems and one of the scam calls co-incided with that. They said they were sending an engineer but would be posting him a new router and took his card details to cover the postage. They made two attempts to take several £K from the card but thankfully they were blocked.

He is one of the last people you'd think would be caught by something like this - it really shook him up and a few weeks later he tried to commit suicide.

[bristolracer]

Sheepshanks said:

He is one of the last people you'd think would be caught by something like this - it really shook him up and a few weeks later he tried to commit suicide.

Wow thats rough, hope he is ok now?

I read that often victims feel so foolish for having been conned that they will not tell family what has happened, it gets bottled up and then the problems start.
In some cases they get hold of all of their victims money, and then of course the victim feels they have lost their safety net, cant pay bills, worried about funeral costs etc. Its a nasty crime
I have in the past told these scammers that their grandmothers must be proud of what they have become, although they would probably sell them too if offered money .
Scum