Scams: Information about scams currently circulating

[Philip5324]

Although they were able to temporarily access my BT account I don't think they could see anything useful to them such as bank details, I've had a good look around my account and can't see anything problematic but would be grateful for other opinions on this.

I think the accessing the BT account was to give them authenticity and they were really after access to my computer, possibly for ransomware, and thankfully I didn't let them get that far.

[DeltaOskarMike]

Hi Everyone..

In researching what SCAMS are out there (to look out for), I came across an individual by the name of "Jim Browning"
Basically he (amongst others) tracks and identifies scammers who knock on his front door, call him or push popups onto his computer screen.

Not sure what the policy of this forum is linking to external sites (like youtube) so if you're interested at looking at the inner workings of these SCAM operators.. it's worth a look..

Just look for Jim Browning (tech support Scams) on YouTube..it's very informative.

Regards

[DeltaOskarMike]

Yes, they probably just wanted to get yout personal information to sound credible and authentic like you said.. so that they can then take you to a remote access or malware download - they're getting smart.. not the usual idiots who just used to say they'ds they're from Microsoft Support and your PC is running slow.

If you look at my other post on this thread.. there's a chap by the name of Jim Browning who goes after these scammers and exposes them for the vermin that they are..

[Ldtravs1]

Had a similar call yesterday - thick Indian accent with call centre noises in the background; purporting to be from BT.

Told me he had a report I wasn’t getting the speed I should be getting. Said he had a report that was showing.

Asked what lights I have on my router - at which point I got suspicious. When I asked him what lights he expected me to have it went pearshaped. I say that because I’ve bought an older refurbished BT vdsl modem and used the mesh system as the router (as couldn’t switch smarthub to bridge mode).

When I tried to explain that different routers have different configurations and I wanted to know what he expected he just kept repeating the same things including this report he had and he could show me. So I asked him to pdf it and email it to the email account on our BT account and I would look at it. That somehow became a problem for him too. At which point after some raised voices he cut off.

Caller id googled as some building firm in West Midlands. So I phoned them up and said that their number was being used and if they got any complaints that’s what it would be for.

[AndyGB]

Hi,

I think there is a new variant of a BT PIN scam in play right now.

I have received several calls over the last few days, all following the same approach:

The caller, sometimes male and sometimes female, identifies themselves as BT and says that they are calling because they are aware that "unauthorised people" are using my broadband service; they ask if they are talking to the account holder and then say that they will send a PIN to my mobile phone to verify this.

If you agree, then indeed a PIN is sent to the mobile from BT (64364) saying "Hello, BT here. Your PIN is: xxxx. You'll only be able to use it once."

I think the PIN is generated from a password reset request on MyBT login "Forgotten your login details" page.

Obviously if you tell them the PIN that you have received and they use it, then they can take control of your BT account by changing the password.

I have enabled two-step authentication on the account now, and the last call ended quite abruptly when they must have realised that they were going to have to ask for an 8 digit passcode before they could generate the 4 digit PIN.

Clearly the scammers have my email address and my landline number, and know that the two are linked; this could possibly from a historic data breach where these kinds of details were exposed - a check on https://haveibeenpwned.com reveals that indeed my btinternet.com email address along with other details (including phone numbers) was included, along with the details of millions of other people, in two breaches in 2019.

Anyone who looks on https://haveibeenpwned.com and sees that their email address has been included in any breach should change their passwords immediately and wherever possible enable 2-factor-authentication on accounts using the affected email address.

Regards

[syoung76]

Yes def a scam, I reported same thing to BT and in this thread in October.

[MikePlob]

I received a similar call a couple of days ago and the caller immediately sent the text to prove he was from BT.

Despite being confused that it came from 64364, a number BT had texted me from in the past, I was pretty sure it was a scam, so I just asked him to tell me what my name was.  He tried to dodge the question so I asked him to go forth and multiply and hung up.

[RIC9380]

With anything like that just ask the caller for their BT EIN. That usually does the trick!

[Sooiemb33]

Is BT currently offering a specialist phone call blocking service for pensioners? Wanted to check this isn’t a scam. They only asked for bank account number and sort code. No card details.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@Sooiemb33 wrote:

Is BT currently offering a specialist phone call blocking service for pensioners? Wanted to check this isn’t a scam. They only asked for bank account number and sort code. No card details.

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Total scam, do not give any information, just hang up.

Do not give any bank details. If you have, then contact your bank right away.