Anydesk Scam Contact

[Avengerius]

Frustratingly was contacted by a callcentre today claiming to be from Sky and needing to check our internet connection as we werent recieving the speed we are paying for. Initially i entertained them as this was correct. Our guaranteed speed is significantly in success of what we actually recieve 45mbs vs the guarantee of 55mbs i think. 

But they quickly moved over to demand i download remote desktop management software from anydesk.com. Thankfully this was enough for me to realise it was utter nonsense and just an attempt to gain access to my device. Challenging them resulted in them terminating the call.

What im more interested in is how our phone number would have been divulged. The number is a new digital line installed in Feb as our prior number couldnt be ported over from Virgin Media. As a family we dont and have not used it, we havent uploaded it to any websites etc, and it should be entirely ex-directory. I suspect the fact they knew my number, name and who the ISP was, I'm left wondering if perhaps there may actually have been a data breach somewhere. Though the usual methods of identifying this suggest my data hasn't been leaked. 

I wonder if anyone else has recently experience the same, or if there's an official way to report this to Sky?

[SKY1992bf · Accepted solution]

@Avengerius  It's unlikely your number was divulged, scammers spoof genuine numbers then dial multiple random numbers until an unwitting person is unfortunate to answer 

see sky's article below 

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-scams-help

[Daniel0210]

@Avengerius 

This is a frequent scam. I doubt very much there has been any kind of data breach. The scammers try their luck on these calls and guess what provider you're with. You did the correct thin in challenging it. Sky won't call customers over such alleged faults. 

[cuke]

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@Avengerius wrote:

Frustratingly was contacted by a callcentre today claiming to be from Sky and needing to check our internet connection as we werent recieving the speed we are paying for. Initially i entertained them as this was correct. Our guaranteed speed is significantly in success of what we actually recieve 45mbs vs the guarantee of 55mbs i think. 

But they quickly moved over to demand i download remote desktop management software from anydesk.com. Thankfully this was enough for me to realise it was utter nonsense and just an attempt to gain access to my device. Challenging them resulted in them terminating the call.

What im more interested in is how our phone number would have been divulged. The number is a new digital line installed in Feb as our prior number couldnt be ported over from Virgin Media. As a family we dont and have not used it, we havent uploaded it to any websites etc, and it should be entirely ex-directory. I suspect the fact they knew my number, name and who the ISP was, I'm left wondering if perhaps there may actually have been a data breach somewhere. Though the usual methods of identifying this suggest my data hasn't been leaked. 

I wonder if anyone else has recently experience the same, or if there's an official way to report this to Sky?

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It's a radom phishing telephone call, no-one has released your phone number to them as they have software that'll randomly ring numbers until they get an answer.

If I was you I'd register your number with the telephone preference service (Removed) which will help to reduce these calls. We rarely get any.

Moderator note: Removed third party link.

[Avengerius]

Thanks for the responses. 

It was purely the fact they knew my name and isp that made me wonder how they'd got the info, you've got me wondering whether they didn't and I just mistakenly gave it when I answered. 

Thanks for the link to the scam page