This topic

Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 21:58:50 GMT

I am totally exasperated with BT. They keep allowing hackers to call into BT and request that they set up a divert on my mothers landline to their mobile number. The hackers then go on to hack her bank account, receiving the associated one time code on their mobile via the call divert. This has happened twice now.

How can we stop BT call handlers from doing this? They are enabling the serial defrauding of a vulnerable BT customer.

Is it not possible to permanently block all possibility of call diversion on a BT landline?

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

Devon_Dave — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:06:59 GMT

Hi. I have asked one of the forum moderators to reply to this one.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

imjolly — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:11:48 GMT

If it has happened twice have you informed the police of the fraud /theft?

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:18:49 GMT

Yes, but they do not investigate domestic fraud.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

licquorice — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:27:58 GMT

What do you mean they don't investigate domestic fraud?

If someone is fraudulently accessing her account, a criminal act has been committed.

How did the hackers obtain the necessary account details to initiate the divert?

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

DavidM — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 08:42:02 GMT

Hi @fatbelly and welcome to our community.

I'm sorry your mums account has been hacked. She should be able to set up a password so no changes can be made but I'll be happy to take a look at that for you. I've dropped you a private message so please reply with the details and we'll take it from there.

Cheers

David

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:18:09 GMT

What I mean is that you report the crime, receive a crime number, and then no action is taken. They say this themselves when they respond, they tell you that they will log that the incident happened, add it to statistics, but will not be following it up because they do not have sufficient resources to investigate individual cases.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:21:07 GMT

Also, BT will not tell us what information was given over, or give us access to the call recordings!

We think they most definitely should!

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

garybs29 — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:39:27 GMT

@fatbellywrote:
Also, BT will not tell us what information was given over, or give us access to the call recordings!
We think they most definitely should!

https://www.bt.com/privacy-policy/

Specifically -

Want a copy of the information we hold about you?

If you want a copy of your billing information, log in to your MyBT account or call 0800 800 150 and we’ll send it to you. (You must be the account holder to ask for this information). If you're a business customer, the number to call is 0800 800 152.

If you want to see what contact information we hold about you, you can also log in to your account. It’s quick and simple to access it this way.

You can also ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you using our online form here.

If you work for one of our corporate customers, where possible, please ask your employer – they’ll ask for this on your behalf.

It will normally take us up to one month to get back to you but could take longer (up to a further two months) if it’s a complicated request or you send us a lot of requests at once.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:58:50 GMT

@fatbelly

I'd be inclined to have a chat with the ICO, both about the apparently cavalier way BT are handling your Mum's data & their refusal to supply details of the calls.

https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/contact-us-public/public-advice/

Could you also look at getting a mobile number associated with the bank account instead?

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 10:40:45 GMT

Thanks rbz5416, very useful.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:17:04 GMT

Frankly, BT have failed to engage with us on this subject, we are appalled. It is impossible to cut through their defensiveness and unwillingness to engage directly with us. We are demanding to hear the call recordings that enabled the fraudulent line divert(s) but cannot seem to reach anyone who is willing to discuss our request. BT have acknowledged that a 3rd party requested the divert fraudulently. We have been given a fraud report number but customers are apparently not able to contact the fraud department. They say they will call my elderly mother (not me, sadly), but that will not work because: 1 she is elderly, vulnerable and easily confused, and 2 we have told her that calls purporting to be from BT are most likely scammers (which they are) - so she will hang up.

We are lifetime customers, shareholders and ex employees. BT are not respecting us as customers and are leaving an elderly, vulnerable customer exposed, confused and high and dry.

It seems that the only solution now possible is to leave BT.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

licquorice — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:19:11 GMT

Did you respond to the mods as invited in message 6 by @DavidM

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:21:56 GMT

Yes, we have responded on all fronts.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

RobbieMac — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:39:50 GMT

Hi @fatbelly

Thanks for posting back!

I am sorry for all the problems and realise how important this is to investigate, thoroughly. I have sent you a private message with instructions on how you can send us over your details and we'll look into this for you. See: Private messages

Reply back to me as soon as you can and we will take it from there.

Thanks,

Robbie

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

licquorice — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:07:01 GMT

@fatbelly clearly you didn't respond to the mods or@RobbieMac wouldn't have needed to resend the invitation

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

RobbieMac — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:29:27 GMT

Hi @fatbelly

Thank you for replying to my private message.

Given what you've described above, I can fully understand your reasons for not wanting to disclose the account details in order for us to investigate. Unfortunately, without the account details, there isn't anything we'll be able to do from here I'm afraid.

Your best bet would be to call the helpdesk on 0330 1234 150 at your own convenience to get this progressed. Just to re-emphasise, all the moderators on the community are BT employees (including myself). You can see our moderator badge which is visible underneath our username beside each post.

Thanks,

Robbie

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

garybs29 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:52:51 GMT

@fatbelly i've gave you the link to request the calls earlier in this topic, you can't demand them over the phone as theres a process to follow

Also are you not an account manager then? Strange that you're not happy with them following the security process & only speaking with authorised people when tbe issue is exactly about that, they're only following security

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

fatbelly — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:54:39 GMT

I do not understand your point or what you hope to gain.

I have replied to all contacts from moderators and all contacts, particularly Robbie's.

Re: Hackers keep diverting my mothers landline

garybs29 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 15:03:46 GMT

To put it bluntly you're complaining about account security but are wanting BT to ignore security in dealing with it by the looks of it, they can only contact authorised people hence the need to speak to the account holder