BT phone scam using Barnsley area code

[kevinlms]

On 02/08/2020 at 06:24, Steven B said:

 

 

On the positive side, when you do get a genuine caller from a call centre they're usually quite happy to tell you what the weather's like wherever they might be.

 

Steven B.

We used get regular scammers, that claimed that they were calling from a suburb near Melbourne's CBD. Now having previously researched their business, I knew it was one of many. In fact the total registered businesses at that address and in the same industry, was estimated at 50!

So it seems they used a different business name each week - I'm guessing that the idea was that, they would be below the threshold for each one, thus avoiding tax!

 

They used to call up saying that they were a local business and located in this suburb. I used to say, 'well that's interesting, what about it?'

They used to ramble on about saving money on phone calls. Then I'd ask what the weather was like. Although about 40 km from me, they had no idea, whether it was day or night, hot or cold, dry or wet!

 

Anyway, they'd eventually figure out that I was having them on, they would say something rude and hang up.

 

I only bothered, because they claimed to be down the road.

[57xx]

On 30/07/2020 at 15:07, SVRlad said:

“And you’re phoning from a Barnsley number - can you tell me what the weather is like in Barnsley today?”

“I’m sorry?”

 

(he asked me to repeat my questions several times, maybe because he wasn’t sure if I was had strong suspicions about the call)

 

After another few questions, I was put through to his supervisor. After the usual greeting of ‘hello sir, how are you doing today’ I continued to press him on the legitimacy of the call. 

 

“If you’re in Barnsley, can you tell me what the weather there is like today?”

“Sunny.”

 

Had something similar a while back from a very obvious call centre, when I asked where they were calling from, they said "Wales".

I asked "Oh right, which town in Wales is that?" and got a few umms and errrs in response so I decided to help her with a few prompts;

"Manchester? Cambridge? Leeds?"

So she confirmed "Manchester".

 

[Liam]

On 01/08/2020 at 21:24, Steven B said:

Eight and ten minutes? You're not trying hard enough! I managed to keep a "Microsoft" engineer busy for over 20 minutes. He got rather confused when I started describing what was on my actual desktop rather than the one on the computer screen. To his credit he didn't get too annoyed when all my computer was showing was a black screen (oh, did you want me to turn it on?). Eventually I had to hang up but not before calling him a crook and suggesting that his parents wouldn't be proud about his choice of work. I think that upset him as he called straight back to exchange another couple of insults....

 

On the positive side, when you do get a genuine caller from a call centre they're usually quite happy to tell you what the weather's like wherever they might be.

 

Steven B.

I rated your comment ‘funny’ but wonder if I should have given you a round of applause for wasting so much of a scammer’s time. 

[Liam]

21 minutes ago, 57xx said:

"Manchester? Cambridge? Leeds?"

So she confirmed "Manchester".

 

Home of that well known Welsh pop group, Oasis. 

[BernardTPM]

When it's not raining, Manchester does get water from Wales...

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, 57xx said:

 

Had something similar a while back from a very obvious call centre, when I asked where they were calling from, they said "Wales".

I asked "Oh right, which town in Wales is that?" and got a few umms and errrs in response so I decided to help her with a few prompts;

"Manchester? Cambridge? Leeds?"

So she confirmed "Manchester".

 

The one place she had heard of. Yes, I do know it isn't in Wales!

[StevieD71]

I've had 2 messages left on my phone this week using a computer generated voice and purporting to be from Agent Dennis Green of HM (pronounced hmm by the voice) Revenue and Customs. Apparently I'm in very serious trouble and either I or my appointed legal representative should call back immediately to avoid serious consequences.

 

The only Dennis Green I've ever heard of is the former Minnesota Vikings head coach, and although as a Vikes fan I would love to chat with him, I don't think the number I was to call is his.

[APOLLO]

[mike morley]

I thought I was far too cynical to fall for any telephone scams, then came dangerously close to having exactly the right circumstances almost prove me wrong.

For months I'd been having problems with my printer.  My laptop and it were both clearly aware of each others presence but only rarely were they able to actually communicate with each other.  Time and time again I'd just about convince myself the problem lay with the printer when something would happen that would made me think "Or is it the router?".  One morning I'd just,and only just, had another "Or is it the router?" moment when my phone rang and the caller announces himself to be from my ISP's security department to warn me they suspected someone had attempted to hack my router.

My initial reaction was relief.  "Thanks for that!  I've been having problems for weeks!  Now I know what the problem is I can do something about it."

The timing was absolutely perfect and I came worrying close to falling for it.  The only reason I didnt because a couple of minutes into the ensuing conversation I suddenly realised he was going out of his way to avoid mentioning the name of my ISP.  A bit of subtle probing made it apparent he didnt know who my ISP was, despite claiming to work for them, and neither did he know what my name was.  When I called his bluff he got stroppy and banged the phone down on me.

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, mike morley said:

I thought I was far too cynical to fall for any telephone scams, then came dangerously close to having exactly the right circumstances almost prove me wrong.

For months I'd been having problems with my printer.  My laptop and it were both clearly aware of each others presence but only rarely were they able to actually communicate with each other.  Time and time again I'd just about convince myself the problem lay with the printer when something would happen that would made me think "Or is it the router?".  One morning I'd just,and only just, had another "Or is it the router?" moment when my phone rang and the caller announces himself to be from my ISP's security department to warn me they suspected someone had attempted to hack my router.

My initial reaction was relief.  "Thanks for that!  I've been having problems for weeks!  Now I know what the problem is I can do something about it."

The timing was absolutely perfect and I came worrying close to falling for it.  The only reason I didnt because a couple of minutes into the ensuing conversation I suddenly realised he was going out of his way to avoid mentioning the name of my ISP.  A bit of subtle probing made it apparent he didnt know who my ISP was, despite claiming to work for them, and neither did he know what my name was.  When I called his bluff he got stroppy and banged the phone down on me.

Yes, timing can be very convincing and the best of us get caught believing them. Suddenly, hopefully you twig after they say something strange.

 

But what sort of printer is it and how do you connect? A friend had endless trouble, with it not able to connect frequently. It was creating endless profile in Windows.

Eventually a computer shop fixed it, it was the USB printer cable. Once replaced, then problem gone.

[mike morley]

Its a Canon printer that came with "quick-start" instructions that only showed you how to make a wired connection.  I'd hoped it might make it's wireless connection itself once I'd got past that stage but it didnt.  It had only just been released and at the time Canon's website didnt even acknowledge the existence of that particular model.  By the time they did, I suspect that model had been updated because the online instructions didnt quite correlate with what was happening in front of me.

[Liam]

One method of dealing with scammers that I recommended to someone on another site was to play the BBC News theme tune down the phone (or on a computer and loud enough for them to hear), and then when you’re approaching the crescendo at the end say, “And we go live in 5,4,3,2,1... on air!” 

[Liam]

Received another of these calls yesterday but this was a car accident scam. After getting through the automated voice I was put through to ‘Melanie’ who informed me that I was entitled to thousands of pounds of compensation. She asked me when the accident occurred, and I said that as a result of the accident I couldn’t remember when it was. The call only lasted two minutes though, and on reflection I should have said that the accident occurred on the 31st February. 

[Nick C]

I had one yesterday too, hung up as soon as I realized it was an automated one...

[Liam]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

I had one yesterday too, hung up as soon as I realized it was an automated one...

Funnily enough I received another one this morning on our landline from ‘BT Openreach’. After being deliberately ambiguous for several minutes and asking the man on the other end to repeat himself several times, I asked where he was calling from. “61 Newgate Street London” came the reply. “That’s strange considering you’re using a Wolverhampton area number!” For some reason the line went dead after that - wouldn’t have a clue as to why...