This topic

DSL Light and scammers

richrarobi — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:55:57 GMT

Had a call from someone purporting to come from BT - almost certainly a scammer. What puzzles me is how he managed to make the DSL light on my OPENREACH modem to flash off and on again. I ALMOST believed him that engineers were working on equipment - changing a router is what he said. Changed who he was calling from when I queried BT looking after the routers outside - I believe this would be an openreach job ...

He also said an engineer would come to the house with a router , so I saked him what sort of router it was.... he avoided the question didn't mention an engineer visit again.

When he asked what sort of computer I was using I told him it was none of his business and he hung up.

As I am almost certainly going to kick BT out for horrendous marketing and excessive pricing it is probably the wrong time for them to upgrade my kit anyway.

Any comments? especially on the DSL thing.

Re: DSL Light and scammers

Edinburgh-wg — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:03:21 GMT

Well, if you've been on dodgy websites or installed software that allows remote access from outwith your local network as well as logs keystrokes, then anyone can log into your router, providing that they know your user name and password (through keylogging), and switch lights on and off. It could also be coincidental. Difficult to tell without knowing what's going on on your local network and what software you've installed and what it does.

Re: DSL Light and scammers

iniltous — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 09:18:50 GMT

Not exactly a coherent argument, certainly I’m at a loss to the point you are trying to make.

You get a call about something ( it’s not clear what the call was about ) the caller claims to be from BT or Openreach and apparently can influence the behaviour of the DSL light on your Openreach modem , this modem is something that is completely unnecessary, most BT customers on FTTC which is presumably what you are , use a BT SH2 router that doesn’t need to be connected via an Openreach DSL modem , anyone who had one of these modems (not just BT customers) could have long since removed it , so that begs the question , if you were a ‘regular’ BT customer without a DSL modem the ‘scammer ‘ couldn’t have done their party piece and ‘blinked’ the DSL light on and off , and it’s a little odd for a scammer to ‘target’ you because of the way you chose to be connected , using an unnecessary piece of OR equipment, a way that hardly anyone now uses , seems to be quite an unusual ‘scam’ .

Most scam attempts are ‘generic’ , I’m contacting you from your ISP , your Bank , the Government, rather than risk mentioning a ‘brand’ , obviously calling a Sky customer saying I’m calling from BT , would need a particularly gullible Sky customer to fall for it .

You then somewhat bizarrely, after concluding that the call was a scam and not from BT ,( I don’t know if it was or wasn’t a scam attempt ) decide that it’s not a good time for BT to be upgrading your kit , but you don’t believe it was BT calling you , in the context of what you said , the caller , regardless of it being BT , Openreach or scammer presumably offered to upgrade your kit which is an unusual offer for a scammer to make .

Its unclear what horrendous marketing you have been subjected to (obviously this call wasn’t marketing and you assume wasn’t from BT ) …..pricing is relatively subjective, I personally could pay a little less with another provider , but it’s a trivial amount, plus my 24 month deal expires shortly, I’d expect a relatively competitive renewal offer then , obviously some pay seemingly massively more than others , usually by remaining on an out of contract basis on an uncompetitive or legacy tariff.

Re: DSL Light and scammers

Edinburgh-wg — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:54:10 GMT

The OP was very clear they wanted a response about whether it's possible or not for a person outwith their local network to switch off/on lights on their BT hub, though they may be confusing the terminology here (modem/router).

Re: DSL Light and scammers

iniltous — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:59:12 GMT

Did you actually read my response, the DSL light in question isn’t on a BT Hub , SH2 don’t even have a DSL light ……the OP certainly does question if it’s possible to blink a DSL light on the Openreach modem , but that’s not the entirety of their post .

Re: DSL Light and scammers

licquorice — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:21:32 GMT

Why are you both replying to a one year old post?

Re: DSL Light and scammers

gg30340 — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:32:34 GMT

@licquoricewrote:
Why are you both replying to a one year old post?

And to top it the OP has not been on the forum since the date of his post!

Re: DSL Light and scammers

iniltous — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:48:58 GMT

Oops

Re: DSL Light and scammers

Kimberlin — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 21:23:41 GMT

To be fair, this is exactly why on some forums, threads are automatically closed after six months. There’s been a few of these recently where someone pops up on a thread that’s been dead for a year or more, just needs a little proactive housekeeping by the Moderators.

Re: DSL Light and scammers

WSH — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 22:11:04 GMT

Well, better late than never!

Re: DSL Light and scammers

gg30340 — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 22:27:30 GMT

@Kimberlin

That has been suggested many times in the past however the developers of the forum do not offer that facility and for the few times that it happens it is not worth the effort of the moderators to trawl through the posts in order to lock them after a set time.

Re: DSL Light and scammers

Edinburgh-wg — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:07:06 GMT

@licquorice @gg30340 No question must be left unanswered! And let's hope that my answer can help someone else whose situation is similar to that described by the OP.

@iniltous sorry you're having trouble processing complex information. Would you like me to simplify so you can understand better?

Re: DSL Light and scammers

gg30340 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:24:01 GMT

@Edinburgh-wg

I take it you are aware that modem lights flash off and on when ever any data is being transmitted through the modem. There is an answer for you to ponder.

As regards no question being left unanswered! What a load or rubbish. I am pretty sure you must have been asked a question at some time in your life that you were unable to answer or do you just say anything to ensure "no question must be left unanswered" even if it was asked over a year ago and the person asking it has "left the building".