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Author Topic: Another Scam Varient ?  (Read 3512 times)

tiffy

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Another Scam Varient ?
« on: May 01, 2019, 12:19:30 PM »

Had a to land line call this morning, number was displayed, 01526 ******, short pause, female (electronic) voice advising "this was (female name) from BT" further advised "my internet connection was being used for illegal purposes, hold the line to discuss further".

Immediatly hung up, did not try to re-call the number displayed, my ISP & phone provider is Plusnet, no known issues apart from contract dates and lack of monthly billing, certainly not unique on that issue at present !

Obviously a scam ?
Has anyone experienced this variant recently ?
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BT FTTP 150/30, BT Smart Hub 2

Iain

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2019, 12:55:29 PM »

Alas that one is quite common at the moment.
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tiffy

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2019, 01:22:41 PM »

Thanks for the confirmation Iain, good to know.
They did call again about an hour later, answered but did not speak, they hung up.
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BT FTTP 150/30, BT Smart Hub 2

tiffy

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2019, 07:57:24 PM »

Alas that one is quite common at the moment.

Iain, on re-reading your reply not sure if you are refering to the "scam" or the Plusnet billing issues, probably both !
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2019, 08:15:07 PM »

No idea about plusnet, but there is a very common scam whereby an electronic message is played, claiming to be BT, or sometimes just “this is your ISP”, and suggesting there is a problem with your connection.    Usually, the message says something like “press 1 to fix this problem”.

The reason the crooks are adopting this strategy is obvious.   People who just hang up the phone can do so, without taking up any of the crooks’ time.   Those who press ‘1’ are likely to be the suckers they want to talk to.  Simply hanging up is absolutely fine.   These calls, and all vaguely similar calls, are always crooked scams.  BT or ISPs would never make such a call, not ever.

For those of us who actually want to take up the crooks’ time for the purposes of having fun, there is no harm in pressing ‘1’, it won’t cost you anything.   Just remember that the person you are talking to is most definitely 100% crooked, no matter what he/she may appear to know, and the only benefit of talking to them is the satisfaction you might get from making a crooked person angry. :)
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Ronski

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2019, 08:24:31 PM »

I keep telling them that BT Openreach is not an ISP, but they just won't listen, as next time they call they still tell me they are from BT Openreach ISP, they also they keep hanging up on my, no idea why  ;)
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2019, 08:49:39 PM »

I’ve sometimes found a reluctance on their part to end the call, once I am talking to a human.   Even if I get them to the point where they are ranting and raving and swearing at me, they are usually insisting that I must hang up.

I don’t really know why it is so important to them that I, rather than they, should end the call.  But not doing so, whilst knowing that it seems to be important to them, brings me some pleasure when I am bored.

One possibility might be, if they are seen to end the call voluntarily, they might be judged by their crooked employers to be half-hearted  scammers, and maybe penalised in some way?
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Ronski

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2019, 08:56:29 PM »

I suspect the latter, I have in the past spent quite a bit of time winding them up, even been passed to level 2 scammers, I used to go all the way to entering the team viewer session number, but deliberately mistype it (writing down the correct one), they'd then correct me when it didn't work, and then I'd keep mistyping it, in the end telling them what I think of them. I'd then get called all sorts of things  :lol: You could usually hear others in the back ground laughing. Once the call was ended I would then report the Team viewer session ID number to Team Viewer so they could track/block it or do whatever they do.
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Iain

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Re: Another Scam Varient ?
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2019, 11:59:24 PM »

Iain, on re-reading your reply not sure if you are refering to the "scam" or the Plusnet billing issues, probably both !
Tiffy, I meant the scam, if it's not PPI, Microsoft your PC is infected, Oh we understand you have had an accident, and no doubt lots more,I only answer my landline when I a bored if I don't recognise the number!!
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