Fake phone call from BT - broadband will be cut off today

[itelboy]

Told them I was not with BT , I was with Virgin and he then said F--- off.

[sophieann]

Beware ... I have had numerous calls but today I pressed 1 to get through to an Asian sounding man to ask him to remove my number from his database. He then shockingly came out with disgusting sexual abuse. I have reported this to BT and they have set up call protect. Surely something could be done to stop these calls

[Patrick78]

Had several phone calls with this 'broadband will be cut off today' message up to today 6th. November 2018.  I put the phone down and tried to ring back. I was told by BT that the number the caller used did not exist, proving that this is a scam. Why do they bother phoning people when the scam is so obvious?

[Patrick78]

I have had several phone calls with this fake message, three today 6th. November 2018. With so clearly a scam why do the callers wast their time making telephone calls?

[Andy_N]

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@Patrick78wrote:

Had several phone calls with this 'broadband will be cut off today' message up to today 6th. November 2018.  I put the phone down and tried to ring back. I was told by BT that the number the caller used did not exist, proving that this is a scam. Why do they bother phoning people when the scam is so obvious?

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Hi, welcome to the forums.

The reason they bother, is the same reason email spammers bother. Some people respond and unfortunately get caught out and scammed.

These scammers only need to get a tiny fraction of people to respond to make it worth their while.

(The thing not to do is actually ring back, but if you do - make sure you prefix the call with 141 to withhold your number).

[bratman91]

The BT8600 phone is excellent at reducing the number of scam calls to almost zero. However, I rather miss the fun I used to have with them whiling away some time. It was very easy to keep the scammers hooked by claiming poor hearing, typing errors when they ask you to type in something, playing dumb etc. Of course, I always had to go upstairs to get my computer, then boot it up, then wait for Windows to start (“it’s going very slow. Do you think this is because of the virus you told me about?”) and so on. As long as you disconnect from the internet as a first step and don’t ever do what they tell you to do (keep making mistakes) you can keep them thinking that they have caught you. It’s funny, but after about half and hour I always had a caller at the front door and had to leave the dialogue. For most of the half hour, I could do other things so wasn’t wasting much time and any time that the scammer spent was time that they couldn’t be scamming someone else. I always stopped when it soundeed as though the scammer was getting suspicious -  who wants phone calls at 3am? 

[bratman91]

+The BT8600 phone is excellent at reducing the number of scam calls to almost zero. However, I rather miss the fun I used to have with them whiling away some time. It was very easy to keep the scammers hooked by claiming poor hearing, typing errors when they ask you to type in something, playing dumb etc. Of course, I always had to go upstairs to get my computer, then boot it up, then wait for Windows to start (“it’s going very slow. Do you think this is because of the virus you told me about?”) and so on. As long as you disconnect from the internet as a first step and don’t ever do what they tell you to do (keep making mistakes) you can keep them thinking that they have caught you. It’s funny, but after about half and hour I always had a caller at the front door and had to leave the dialogue. For most of the half hour, I could do other things so wasn’t wasting much time and any time that the scammer spent was time that they couldn’t be scamming someone else. I always stopped when it soundeed as though the scammer was getting suspicious -  who wants phone calls at 3am? 

[BEERLING1970]

I have been getting calls galore saying the same. 

[janeh52]

Had this call at 0815 this morning. Automated voice. When dialled1471 to trace no number was given.

[Keith_Beddoe]

See Reporting scam callers