Internet compromised

1 call yesterday and 4 so far today , all different phone numbers , different locations, all playing a recorded message telling me my internet provider has been trying to contact me and unless I pressed 1 to speak to their executive or 2 to speak to the technical executive, my internet would be terminated with 24 to 48 hours. 
As it happens I got a text from BT yesterday telling me my email had been compromised. I didn't respond to that text but called BT to check and yes they confirmed it had been compromised. I then got the first phone call.    They said any recorded message was a scam but anyway I needed to change my passwords, so that meant changing 4 email address passwords on phone, tablet and laptop. Pain in the proverbial.
Anyone else had such calls?

PS call 5 today just received.

Thanks for the info, no calls etc yet, but I will be on full alert, or asleep!

I have had calls shown as a local number on caller display, when I picked up got the usual noise associated with a call center, ie background noise and just no one speaking. How do they do that and why can't BT stop it? 
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Richard

I've blocked all the numbers that have called me but of course they keep changing their number. Googling the locations of the area codes they have been from as far apart as USA, India, Alnwick and Saffron Walden.

Yes block one and the so and so use another.
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Richard

Paul, we've been getting these for some time. Same issue that the number they call from changes each time. If it's the same ones they are voiced by a female with an "american" sounding accent. We've had them at 7am, sometimes goes for weeks without one then several on the same day. I just hang up and say nothing (and if you believe that, you'll believe anything  )

Did BT explain exactly what they meant by your "email had been compromised"?

rogerblack wrote:Did BT explain exactly what they meant by your "email had been compromised"?

No but they did tell me which one of my four email addresses it referred to (and it's not the one I use here).

Askit wrote:Paul, we've been getting these for some time. Same issue that the number they call from changes each time. If it's the same ones they are voiced by a female with an "american" sounding accent. We've had them at 7am, sometimes goes for weeks without one then several on the same day. I just hang up and say nothing (and if you believe that, you'll believe anything  )

I understand that if you answer, then they know that number is in use, as they send block calls to all numbers in a range, bit like email address. If I get there quick enough, I turn off the answer machine and let it ring till they clear down. If it works or not who knows, as like you goes weeks without a call, then it starts again.
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Richard

Couple of years ago I received a marketing email supposedly from BT. I phoned BT to query the offer and was told it was a scam email and to forward it to BT to investigate, also to change my password. This I did, to my frustration, and 4 weeks later I received a reply telling me that the original email was genuine but the offer was over which is why the phone operator didn't recognise it. Grrrrrr..
Rich..

rgermain wrote:Thanks for the info, no calls etc yet, but I will be on full alert, or asleep!

I have had calls shown as a local number on caller display, when I picked up got the usual noise associated with a call center, ie background noise and just no one speaking. How do they do that and why can't BT stop it? 
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Richard

Richard this as an increasing problem started in America I believe where marketing companies were aware of -customers not answering their calls due to them seeing an out of state number calling or the number of well known trash call originators   on their caller display. The CLI or calling line identity is a tone burst sent out from the exchange  just before ringing current is  applied so  your phone rings + tells your phone the number who is calling . They somehow intercept this using software / hardware and replace it with a local number which customers are more likely to pick up if they see their local dialling code on the display. Resultant was their 'hits' went up by a massive amount. It appears the rest of the world was not long in taking up this technique to increase their success rate. Problem is it can also be used for criminal purposes of which I cannot elaborate further but rest assured it is still relatively rare in this country. I have only heard of/ dealt with one serious case personally.

kaspian wrote:

rgermain wrote:Thanks for the info, no calls etc yet, but I will be on full alert, or asleep!

I have had calls shown as a local number on caller display, when I picked up got the usual noise associated with a call center, ie background noise and just no one speaking. How do they do that and why can't BT stop it? 
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Richard

Richard this as an increasing problem started in America I believe where marketing companies were aware of -customers not answering their calls due to them seeing an out of state number calling or the number of well known trash call originators   on their caller display. The CLI or calling line identity is a tone burst sent out from the exchange  just before ringing current is  applied so  your phone rings + tells your phone the number who is calling . They somehow intercept this using software / hardware and replace it with a local number which customers are more likely to pick up if they see their local dialling code on the display. Resultant was their 'hits' went up by a massive amount. It appears the rest of the world was not long in taking up this technique to increase their success rate. Problem is it can also be used for criminal purposes of which I cannot elaborate further but rest assured it is still relatively rare in this country. I have only heard of/ dealt with one serious case personally.

Thank you for the info.

I assume you worked for BT or in the industry, I left in 2002 and things have changed a lot since then.
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Richard

kaspian wrote:They somehow intercept this

Unfortunately it's actually a lot simpler than that! If the caller is using a high-speed, multi-channel connection to their local exchange - which they will be if they are running a call centre - then it really is as simple as setting the CLI field, on a call-by-call basis, on their connection to the exchange.

In theory the operator that supplies their line ~should~ set it up so that they can only use a calling number that corresponds to an agreed one in the local numbering range, but the fact is that most don't bother - possibly because there are legitimate reasons why a company might want to use several different CLI values (e.g. the call centre operates on behalf of several other businesses which need to appear to be separate).

That's how a call centre in Delhi can (and often does, in my experience) appear to be calling from a London number - they simply set the value at their end and nobody bothers to check it.

Of course these days there are added complications, because now it's easy for telephony to "tunnel" via the internet and "break out" in another country, so control of CLI is then down to whoever provides the connection to the local network in the remote (i.e. remote from the call originator) country.