Worrying call perhaps from BT

[MrPort]

I had a phone from a very unpleasant person who said they were from BT who said that she wanted to give me some information from BT.   She did not give her name and I requested that she give me my Account number to ensure that it was not a scam call.  However, she would not let me have this information unless I gave her an ID PIN number that she had sent to my BT email address.  I said it was not convenient to deal with whatever she needed to impart over the phone and she should write to me (either email or post).   She said that if I did  not do what she said then my landline and broadband would be immediately cut off.  I refused (I don't respond to blackmail).   I ended the call and so far I have not been cut off.  The question I have is if you have set your marketing preferences to E mail only on MyBT  (which I do( and you receive a rather unpleasant phone call from BT (if it was BT) who do I complain too?  If the call was indeed genuine I think BT really ought to train their agents not to resort to  aggressive tactics.

[licquorice]

It was a scam.

[MrPort]

That was my view but so convincing.

[licquorice]

It's a ruse to obtain the pin which they have caused to be sent to your email.

[Rach_H]

Hi @MrPort,

Welcome back to the Community!

I'm so sorry to hear about this call, and I can understand how concerning this must've been for you.

@licquorice is correct and you've done the right thing by ending the call. Rest assured, we would never call you and ask for a PIN we've sent. We do take this very seriously, so you can report this, and we will investigate further.

Rach

[MrPort]

Many thanks.  I have reported it.  The worrying issue is how did the scammer get BT to send me ID PINs to my email address and mobile.

[licquorice]

Simply by calling them and pretending to be you.

They will have obtained your email address and mobile number from other sources. They then get BT to send you (the genuine recipient) the pin followed by calling you to obtain the pin.

[gg30340]

The only time BT will send you a PIN is during a phone call or series of phone calls that you have instigated. This is to verify to BT that they are speaking to the genuine account holder.  If you did not call BT or were expecting a return phone call about a specific problem/enquiry that you instigated, it is not a genuine BT call.

Scammers create a passcode by going to BT login, putting in your email address and then click the forgot password button.

The scammers call you at the same time the pass code is being created and they say they have just sent you pass code, and to ensure it is you can you repeat it back to them. 

This code allows the scammers to access your BT email account and all the emails that it contains which will no doubt contain banking details etc.

They will also have access to your MyBT account and be able to access that along with all the details that contains.

[MrPort]

Thanks for the extremely helpful information.  Good job I didn't give them the code otherwise I take it they could have created a new password and I would have been up S...Creek without a paddle!

[MrPort]

Many thanks for the information.  I will be better prepared next time.