Reports of Southport households receiving suspected scam phone calls from people claiming to be from BT

There appear to have been a number of suspected scam phone calls to households in and around Southport.

OTS News has been contacted by residents after a number of suspected scam calls were made to homes in the town claiming to be from BT.

The calls come from a Southport number (01704) and begin with a pre-recorded message saying it is a message forwarded from BT and that the person’s phone line and internet is going to be disconnected. The message then asks people to press 1, at which point they are transferred to a real person.

It is understood that this person claiming to be from BT will then try to convince the person who answered the phone to go through a number of steps which could allow them access to the person’s computer, potentially risking private and banking details falling into their hands, or allowing them to install programs to gain information or shut down access unless a payment is made.

BT has information about scams on its website and states it will never call to say they have found a problem with your computer, call out of the blue and ask for remote access to your computer or other devices, tell you that your router or IP address has been compromised, tell you that your broadband has been hacked, or threaten to disconnect your service unless you make a payment immediately.

You can find information about staying safe online at www.getsafeonline.org and find out about the most common phone scams via the Metropolitan Police’s Little Booklet of Phone Scams (pdf)