16/12/2020
Good advice from Virgin but applicable elsewhere:
"At a time when the whole country has pulled together, it’s a sad fact that there are fraudsters and scammers who want to take advantage of us. With that in mind, we wanted to get in touch about ways to keep your details safe.
Whether it’s silence, robot callers, spam or vishing (like phishing, but over the phone), fraudulent calls and texts come in lots of annoying shapes. At best, these calls are frustrating – but at their worst, they can cost us time, money and sleep.
Virgin Media will never contact you for sensitive personal info like passwords, bank details, or other personal security info. When we first talk to you, we’ll ask you to confirm you’re the account holder and for 3 random characters of your account password. If you don’t have a password on your account, or you can’t provide the 3 random password characters, we’ll ask for you to answer a general security question and two financially related security questions. This might then include asking you to confirm your bank sort code.
So, if someone says they’re with us, then asks for your precious details (often with an urgent or intimidating tone), please hang up. If it’s a threatening call, you should call the police, who’ll liaise with us.
Other ways you can protect yourself
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Register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to prevent unsolicited calls from businesses – visit tpsonline.org.uk
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Report silent and abandoned calls to Ofcom (ofcom.org.uk), or malicious and abusive calls to authorities (use 101 for non-emergencies, or 999 if there’s an immediate threat to you or your family)
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Protect your number – opt out of unwanted marketing and take care when you share it online
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Set your number to ex-directory so companies don’t have access (Virgin Media home phone numbers are automatically ex-directory if we give you a new number)
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Use caller ID to see who’s calling, or set up anonymous caller rejection by chatting to our Care team. There’s more help with this at virginmedia.com/help
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Use your home phone handset or mobile phone’s features – these might include blacklisting for specific numbers, and Do Not Disturb modes
Lastly, if you’re ever unsure about the authenticity of a call, don’t feel silly for checking in with us. We want to help, however we can.
More advice about fraudulent and nuisance calls here."
