I.P. Address hacked according to telephone call

[Smartyfartblast]

Received an international call from a gent with Asian accent claiming to be a BT Engineer. Told me that my hub light was telling them that it kept dropping out (true) and that there had been too much activity on the line indicating that my IP Address had been hacked. To fix this he asked me to go to my device (android) and launch Google Play store.thats when I smelled a rat and rang off. Any similar experiences? Could it have been BT? If not how did they get my phone number AND know I'm a BT Customer?

[Devon_Dave · Accepted solution]

its a scam. you did the correct thing and put the phone down.
with regard to getting your number they just dial number's at random

[MBUK]

I too am being called persistently by a South Asian call centre claiming my Broadband line is being hacked and that they want me to log onto my computer to clear it up. I have never complied so it's good to have it confirmed that it's a scam. I think it might be helpful if BT made an announcement about it does have some plausibility and they are persistent.

[PaddyB]

Hi @MBUK,

If you take a look at Security warning - Fraud activities, you'll find a few tips on how to protect yourself against these types of calls.

Thanks

PaddyB

[PedroUK]

I have had two calls recently.  In both cases the voice had a thick Indian accent and was not easy to understand.  In both cases the voice told me that BT had noticed a fault on my router.  The first time  - at that point I smelled a rat  - because I was online and the computer and internet were working perfectly  - so I told him to stop scamming and not to call me again. That was about a week ago.  The second time was an hour ago.  This time I wanted to listen to see what else he tried to claim. He started in the same way, telling me there was a fault with the internet, and that I was in danger of being hacked.  I asked him what I should do  - he then told me I needed to be at my computer.  At that point I decided to call his bluff again - and told him he was a scammer and liar, and put the phone down.  This seems to be a very pernicious attempt to get at my IP address I guess.  Everything is working perfectly here.  I cannot believe that BT could possible know whether my Router was woring proerly or not unless I reported it.  Beware everybody.

[PhoneCustomer]

I was called & phoned BT on 150 who very kindly checked that there was no legitimate call from them & advised me to threaten calling Police which is justifiable, so try this 

[Arickmanfan]

I've had a few calls with this - my mood depends on the answer they get, sometimes I have a bit of fun with it and asked one if he was going to buy me a computer as I don't even own one. Had another call this morning and I asked them what my name was, woman came up with some random name and address in a town I've never heard of (it may not exist) at which point I said "well you're not bt then are you because you'd know my name if you were". I then hung up 😊

[Stuartdeesse]

Just had a call from Indian sounding lady who stated she was from BT Technical department and told me my broadband had been hacked over the weekend...I asked her where she was calling from - she said Nottingham, and asked for the exact address (she couldn't pronounce the road name properly!) - Googled 7 arboretum street Nottingham and I said that she worked in a Terraced house, Freehold, 4 Beds, 1 Bath, 1 Reception (!) which she denied, then she handed over to a male Asian who was shouting at me(LOL!). I hung up!!

[bloody56]

My mother-in-law gets the phone calls and she dosn't broadband. So they don't know if your with BT have broadband or anything. The authorities are just starting to block some of these phone calls. I used to get them, but since I bought phone with call guardian I have stopped all such calls completely.

[patrickmoloney73]

These people are just scum BT spend millions on security a year BT routers are one of the best and one of the hardest routers to "hack"
Unless you keep your router switched on 24/7 your IP address changes when you switch it off that is why BT tell you to switch off your routers for X amount of minutes to reset IP it is people with static IP addresses that need to worry about ip being hacked (turn routers off regularly reset IP address)
If you think router has been "hacked" check yourself it is simply use the little plastic thing on router where password is for details and remove any unknown divices
Make sure remote access is OFF
If you are having issues with broadband speed this too could also be sorted by login to router and changing the channel on the router