BT or scam number?

I recived a call today from 08000285085. So I called it back and it claims to be from BT. The messages was poor quality which made me suspicious that it is a scam.

So call BT to check if it was them. First adviser cut me off for no reaon and second did no seem to know if it was BT or not. Not impressed.

Asked to speak with manager and he did not know other than saying, he could not find anything on the sytem or looks like it.

He then told me to call 0800321999. That is of no use either.


BT should know if it is one of ther numbers or not. I did a google check and I have seen conflicting statements.

I think it is a scam but just woneder if anyone knows for sure.

Doing a quick google id say yes, it seems to be bt newcastle

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t...

Edited by omnius (Tue 21-Aug-12 16:23:18)

I would think it a tad unusual for a scam to use an 0800 number - opening themselves up to some very expensive phone bills. Did you answer the call when it came in? If so, what were they trying to get you to do? If you didn't then personally I would ignore it - the fact you can't talk to anyone on that number means it isn't worth time trying to trace it.

Some do use 800 numbers. No did not answer but I called it back. BT used to keep calling me with sales calls and had a lot of trouble getting them to stop. With TPS as well.

You do get scam call with people pretending to be from someone like bt, thats why i'm asking because BT are useless and don't know themselfs.

I don't have any servcie with BT other than landline.

Plenty of people been pestered here from that number.

I get regular calls from BT - also from an 0800 number which I haven't got to hand.

My phone service is with BT but my broadband isn't which I guess is why I'm at the top of their list! Each time they ring I explain that I'm not interested and ask to be removed from their call list - which each time they say they will do. But still the calls keep coming

Perhaps BT's PR people should work out that if you end up annoying people they will be less likely to ever use their service!!!

Did I mention they also write to me a couple of times a month as well...
The last few have been giant poster type adverts that go straight into the recycling without unfolding

Bait for BT DebateScape: Very Bad BT Broadband Customer Service - so they get the message!

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

BT should know if it is one of ther numbers or not. I did a google check and I have seen conflicting statements.

So, you expect everyone in BT to know which phone numbers are allocated to BT staff? With around 80,000 numbers, including large numbers of 0800, 0808, 0845, &c that is a near impossible task.


Could you tell me which numbers your company uses? Probably not.

What was the nature of the message, that led you to suspect a scam? Were they asking for money or bank details?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Some do use 800 numbers. No did not answer but I called it back. BT used to keep calling me with sales calls and had a lot of trouble getting them to stop. With TPS as well.

You do get scam call with people pretending to be from someone like bt, thats why i'm asking because BT are useless and don't know themselfs.

I don't have any servcie with BT other than landline.

Just for the record, I've used several ISPs over the years. Whereas my land line has been with BT for the majority of the period, with Orange taking that on as well, when I got a special broadband deal thru' my son's mobile contract.
What decided me to go back to BT for everything (Broadband for the first time), was the superb service I got from BT Openreach. The latter made several visits to my property to identify and correct connection weaknesses from the cabinet, to the overhead cable connecting my phone and broadband to my home. Also identifying that internal extension wiring to a 2nd phone was having a negative affect on my broadband speed.
However, the penny suddenly dropped about 8 months ago, that I was never going to get the best broadband service for the cheapest price. So I put all my eggs in one basket with BT, and even got several months free broadband! The move has resulted in our family now enjoying consistent download speeds of 15 Mb, with 0.9 Mb upload (plus the use of many free BT "hot spots", when travelling around the UK with a laptop). Whereas under Orange, Sky & V21 we never reached 15 Mb download, and also experienced really poor speeds @ peak usage times (as low as 2 Mb download).
Also we have the added bonus of upgrading to FTTC (BT Infinity) when it comes available to our postcode next month. Of course this will cost about 15% more than we are paying for our current broadband service, however if our video streaming improves significantly - it will be worth it.

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

BT should know if it is one of ther numbers or not. I did a google check and I have seen conflicting statements.

So, you expect everyone in BT to know which phone numbers are allocated to BT staff? With around 80,000 numbers, including large numbers of 0800, 0808, 0845, &c that is a near impossible task.


Could you tell me which numbers your company uses? Probably not.

You would have at least thought BT Security would have access or knowledge of a database with that number listed and be able to verify though. I would agree that every BT employee committing every number to memory would be unreasonable.

Perhaps some kind of lookup, maybe by using some kind of company intranet!!
For the record, it is a genuine BT numbering

In reply to a post by shrimper1:

What decided me to go back to BT for everything (Broadband for the first time), was the superb service I got from BT Openreach.

Openreach has no diff relationship with BT Retail, from whom you get your BB, than any other ISP. Hence this reason doesn't hold water.

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

BT should know if it is one of ther numbers or not. I did a google check and I have seen conflicting statements.

So, you expect everyone in BT to know which phone numbers are allocated to BT staff? With around 80,000 numbers, including large numbers of 0800, 0808, 0845, &c that is a near impossible task.


Could you tell me which numbers your company uses? Probably not.

I expect BT to have a computerised list of numbers they use and search, yes. BTW I have no need to know numbers where I work, as I am just a worker.

It was the poor quality of the message, calling out the blue and reading others who have had the same.

This number has popped up on many forums. It usually turns up as the department that chases bills that should have been paid!

Well if thats the case they are calling the wrong person, as I have had DD set up for ages. So have no unpaid bills. BT have not called me back so must be incompetent service from BT as normal.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Perhaps some kind of lookup, maybe by using some kind of company intranet!!
For the record, it is a genuine BT numbering

Intranet... intresting almost like an internal directory you could type a number into to find out what department it was for.

Depends on how they use 0800 numbers. We have one 0800 for 5000 employees so that if someone gets a call they can see the number and if they ring it it gives them a generic message that they had been called by our company but we wouldn't know which of the many departments it came from.

not sure if serious :/

If no money or confidential info was requested, difficult to envisage how any such "scam" would work. You still haven't said what the message was actually about. Was it a sales call?

It was a missed call. So called it back and they claimed to be from BT but the messages was poor quality, which lead me to believe it was a scam call.

I don't know what call it was.

When I called useless BT about it , they did not know if it was one of the numbers they use. That is why I came on here and asked

Why don't you call the number and have a listen yourself.

08000285085 is a pukka # for a call from BT and when you call it back it says "This is BT. We tried to ring you but you didn't answer. We will call you again" on the assumption that you are ringing it because you saw it in your list of unanswered calls. Yes it is grainy, but I just assume that is the quality of the tape recording.

I had one list week when I was in discussion with Customer Service about a complaint query I had made with them and they wanted to discuss it..

This may be a genuine BT department number, but sometimes the dodgy so-and-so's will abuse this by spoofing their calls from Bangalore with the real number in your caller ID. If you then call the number back, you get a real BT department, but no further as they cannot route you to whoever called, even if a genuine call was made.

The scam company rely on this sort of thing to make their claim that they are calling from BT to be true. So they call once, leave a message/or not, you check the number, find it really is BT, then when that number appears in your display you think you're talking to a BT employee - but are you?

Yes, I have had this happen. How did I know it wasn't genuine, despite checking the 0800 number displayed - because they wanted to talk to me about and 'overdue amount' on my BT account, and I'm not with BT... the 0800 028 part rang alarm bells when I saw this thread.

The 'overseas' callers can spoof whatever number they want to appear in your display. The latest I had was what seemed to be a local number at first glance, the area code was OK but then I saw the number - it started with a zero, and you just don't get numbers like 01632 066021, they would be invalid without the dialling code.

That means I was straight on to the caller as a time waster, despite their protest that they were only conducting a survey.

In reply to a post by TMCR:

The scam company rely on this sort of thing to make their claim that they are calling from BT to be true. So they call once, leave a message/or not, you check the number, find it really is BT, then when that number appears in your display you think you're talking to a BT employee - but are you?

EDIT2: Actually I wouldn't remember that that # came from BT previously and would treat each call on its own (de)merit, with suspicion.

Well, obviously you find out what he wants to talk about and whether it is something you are currently involved in. In my case I was querying BT's Line Rental Saver. So unless he mentions LRS w/out my prompting I would not discuss anything further. The probability of a scammer knowing my current discussion with BT is minimal. Nor should you answer any security checks to an incoming call.
EDIT1: Indeed you should really perform security checks in reverse .

I also know that BT (or anyone else) will not phone you about billing matters w/out having written to you 1st.

I do not receive any marketing calls from BT cuz I have opted out of them on their website and I know that BT has adhered to that for years.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Thu 23-Aug-12 02:15:25)

In reply to a post by FRS_Plunderer:

not sure if serious :/

Not sure why you are not sure. This is the way we have operated for about 10 years.

Hi Everyone

I have just seen these posts and though I would clarify things. When we do call anyone the number that does appear is a 0800 number which is fixed to BT and one of those numbers is 08000285085 and would be the most common number to show on peoples caller display.

Regards David

In reply to a post by BT_Care:

Hi Everyone

I have just seen these posts and though I would clarify things. When we do call anyone the number that does appear is a 0800 number which is fixed to BT and one of those numbers is 08000285085 and would be the most common number to show on peoples caller display.

Regards David

Hi David,

Nice to get that clarification, but if what another poster said is true, that the number can be spoofed from overseas, the argument that poster put is quite dangerous.

The claim about spoofing puzzles me though. My caller display shows huge numbers of spam international calls, and I do not recall ever receiving an overseas/spam call with a valid UK number displayed.

I've no doubt that it is possible to spoof calling phone #s just as you can with sending email addys, esp. with the use of VOIP untethered #s.

It just confirms that with any incoming call you have to be on the alert and make sure by suitable interrogation that the caller is who they say they are. If all else fails, ring off and call the firm on a known # and find out if & why they just called you.

Doesn't work if you try to call BT back on 08000285085 though!

You just get a pre-scripted(crackly) message...

Obviously! http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/general/t/4150265-r...

A known contactable number, not the one of which you are suspicious! In the case of BT: 150 e.g.

Post deleted by billford

I just received a call from an Indian fellow called John wanting to access my pc via teamviewer to speed up my BT broadband - when checking phone number he gave me to call back was 02920419999 - my broadband works fine and is nice and fast.. is he or isn't he from BT? tried the online chat option on the BT site but got no reply. He seemed to be somewhat irritated that I didn't just let him access my pc..

You should have told him your ISP is scamguys.co.uk , not BT.

Anyway, your post is already nationally known.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I recived a call today from 08000285085. So I called it back and it claims to be from BT. The messages was poor quality which made me suspicious that it is a scam.

I think it is a scam but just woneder if anyone knows for sure.

When I get nuisance calls, I look them up on the website Who Calls Me to find information about them.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08000285085

Edited by deleted (Mon 29-Oct-12 00:26:50)

put their phone number into compare the market,gocompare and online loan companys and let them get bombarded with insurance and loan phone calls

It IS a legit BT number.It's a call centre in India that they use. I got that number on my mobile, and I looked it up online and found this thread. However, as soon as I saw people saying it 'claimed' to be from BT I realised it was probably legit as I emailed a query to them yesterday and gave them my mobile number.

They called a second time and I picked up - it was a dreadful line speaking to someone with a heavy accent, but he put me through to a BT person in Britain who dealt with the rest ofmy query.

That's interesting. I have retained my BT Premium mail account since the days I was with BT.

A good few weeks ago I received an email from BT, via Outlook, asking me to go to my account and log on to resolve some issue to the changing status of BT Yahoo mail. I complained to BT that they shouldn't be sending such emails, because that method of asking for people to use their log on details is used by phishing scams. In fact, forgive me if I am wrong, others received a similar email and there was some sort of debate here. I am struggling to find the email or the debate ATM, but it was confirmed that the email was from BT

It does appear that some wing or other of BT has lost the plot if your call really came from them.

In reply to a post by roughbeast:

I am struggling to find the email or the debate ATM, but it was confirmed that the email was from BT

Here or here.

I think this sums it up (copied from another site)...

Quote...
Someone from this number called me on my mobile and said that is from the BT and that my account was cancelled and i have to give them my detailes to settle another direct debit. I thought was a little weird so i told them i will call BT myself . When i asked them if i can call them back he said that i will not be able to contact him at this phone number. I called BT and everything was in order and my account is not cancelled....so a big scam...When i tried to call back at the number there is a robot answearing.....Be carrefoul and do not give any details to anyone who is calling from this number.Is a huge scam.....

I've been told it's possible to make any Caller Display number pop up on the recipients phone. Quite likely to be BTs number but the call does not originate from BT. Got a call from this number today and blocked it.

Mike.

In reply to a post by TMCR:

The 'overseas' callers can spoof whatever number they want to appear in your display. The latest I had was what seemed to be a local number at first glance, the area code was OK but then I saw the number - it started with a zero, and you just don't get numbers like 01632 066021, they would be invalid without the dialling code.

That means I was straight on to the caller as a time waster, despite their protest that they were only conducting a survey.

Think that is now wrong as in 5 areas you must dial the full dialling code for local numbers. This changed at the start of the month so as to free up more numbers in the areas, although 01632 is not one of the areas involved.
dialing code areas involved

In reply to a post by TAZZ69:

Think that is now wrong as in 5 areas you must dial the full dialling code for local numbers.

But if you look, that topic was back in 2012...
Yes, a few areas have changed since then - did not stop some 'survey' calling me from a 01302 910 number a couple of weeks ago, there are no numbers starting with 9 in (01302) Doncaster and it's not an area where you have to dial the full number.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I recived a call today from 08000285085. So I called it back and it claims to be from BT. The messages was poor quality which made me suspicious that it is a scam.

Rule #1 - ignore all cold calls.

In reply to a post by Andrue:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I recived a call today from 08000285085. So I called it back and it claims to be from BT. The messages was poor quality which made me suspicious that it is a scam.

Rule #1 - ignore all cold calls.

I know the thread is 2 years old,

0800 0285085 is actually BT second line support - and it will only be used to follow up on a problem.

It does not stop someone putting a false number in their CLI field though.

In reply to a post by TAZZ69:

This changed at the start of the month so as to free up more numbers in the areas, although 01632 is not one of the areas involved.

01632 is not allocated and reserved for use in drama, I think that's why it was chosen in the example.

The scam of sending someone else's Caller Display number is still going on.

Track FedEx package ‪0020 7536 5100‬ is a genuine FedEx number but is being used for the old Microsoft (something wrong with your computer) scam amongst other things.

Pity there's nothing that can be done to block this in the BT system. If these calls are coming from abroad surely they should come up as International or Unavailable?

Mike.

Calls supposedly from UK numbers, e.g. a dubious call-centre in Manchester, show up as International on caller display.

ive been getting a call from "BT" saying theres something wrong with my computer system

righto then.

I know this is an old thread, but BT should learn from it. I've received a message on my mobile phone saying they called me and will call again. It allo relates to a call from an Indian woman with a strong accent on a poor line. I told her I couldn't understand her and hung up. UK call centres anyone?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BT8500-Advanced-Blocker-Cord...

Those phones are excellent and since buying I have never received any dodgy phone calls, perhaps a bit off the topic but I google every non recognised number and block immediately.