Warning about calls from your ISP!

[TazmanianDevil91]

Hey,

I've heard about people getting calls from 'Microsoft' and 'Windows' before saying that their PC has issues and then attempting to hack them etc. But then I had a different one today, that at first, I thought was completely genuine as they said they were from Virgin Media and knew my full name and my address etc. They said that there was issues with the internet in my area, and they wanted me to test my connection speed to see if it was any better yet. I swear, I have had this exact call before for real so thought it was okay. Then when they wanted me to check the speed she said about downloading something in order to do that and I actually clicked to do it but then my antivirus warned me about it so I made an excuse and hung up the phone. I checked the number on the internet and found comments reporting the phone number as a scam on this website and it really nearly got me. I just want to warn people not to fall for this as it is so convincing!!

Hope this helps :)

 

[Digerati]

Thanks for this information. It seems to me, these type calls are increasing as lawmakers are [finally] starting to crack down on such calls. In the US, there is a new law requiring phone companies to verify caller ID information. This will [I hope] help tremendously. Sadly, they have 18 months to implement it so we may have to live with these calls for awhile.

Your warning is timely (for me) because just yesterday, I got a very convincing call from a scammer too. I am retired military and still use the facilities at my local base, Offutt AFB. The primary or "host" unit on the base is the 55th Wing. Many Offutt phone numbers start with 402-294-xxxx. Only Offutt uses the 294 prefix. I typically do not answer calls unless I recognize the number. But yesterday, I got a call frome (402) 294-1148 and the caller ID said, "Offutt AFB 55". So I thought I was getting a call from the base.

But when I answered, the caller said there was a problem with my Bank of America credit card. Red flags immediately went up and I knew the call was a scammer so I hung up. I reported the call and number to base security so they could alert base personnel.

BTW, for US users, that reporting organization has a US site too: Find out who called you | Scam Numbers.

 

[TazmanianDevil91]

Wow they really go to a lot of effort to scam don't they! They are getting smarter unfortunately. Well done on spotting it for what it was!

Thats really good, we dont have any laws like that in the UK sadly, perhaps it will be implemented over here if it is successful in America!

 

[Digerati]

Yeah, there are some very clever bad guys out there and no one should ever think they are smarter than the bad guys.

 

[plodr]

I got an automated call this past week from Apple. I haven't used any Apple hardware since 1989! (That was a new one. Usually it is MS, FBI or Social Security - none of which would ever call.)

Now I've turned off all the ringers on the phones. The legitimate callers know to let a message on the answering machine. The phone attached to the answering machine has a yellow light surrounding the top of the handset. When that blinks, we know we have a message. It is easy to see which is why we bought that phone and attached answering machine.