Tech team phone call, scam or not?

[Pqwrt]

I've had a problem that occured after doing a broadband update from full fibre 300 to full fibre 500. Somehow while just upgrading the broadband we have lost access to TNT sports channels in HD, the regular channels work fine just not the HD. I raised this issue with the live chat service and they ran through a few checks but nothing solved the problem so they have put it through to the tech team as a fault.

This morning I received a phone call from a lady who claimed to work for EE, based in Newcastle, she sent this text through to my phone;

"Hi from EE. Be alert to fraud - if you didn't ask for this, don't share it, please call us on 0330 123 1105. Your PIN for resetting your EE ID security answer is ****. Thanks." (I've removed the PIN just to be safe)

She then requested I tell her the PIN so she could deal with the reported fault. Is this genuine? I was unsure at the time, and it seemed like some sort of potential scam so I refused to give her the code and ended the call.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Pqwrt 

Welcome to the community.

It is normal for our guides to send a one time PIN to verify a customer. What number did the caller call you from?

Chris

[Pqwrt]

The call I answered came from, 0800 956 5062

After hanging up I received a second call and a voicemail from the same lady, but the second call came from 0800 028 5085

What concerned me was most was that the text said the PIN was to "reset my EE ID security answer". If the text said it was a one time PIN to verify a customer that wouldn't have made me think it was a scam.

[Christopher_G]

The first number looks to be a genuine EE outbound number and the second looks to be a genuine BT outbound number, @Pqwrt.

I understand why you're worried, and you're right to be cautious. 

If you have any suspicions, it may be best to contact us directly through the information on our contact us page.

They'll also be able to check to see if those calls are logged against your account.

Chris

[chistery]

This looks like a scam to me. 

Unless you are talking to EE about resetting your security then you should not receive a PIN like this. It sounds more like someone got EE to send you the PIN, and then called you to try and gain access.

If EE call you and want to verify with a PIN, then the texts tend to look like this:

EE should not be resetting your account security when troubleshooting  a TV fault?

[Pqwrt]

Thankyou for that example text, if mine had looked like that I would have definitely been much less concerned.

I also had a text before the phonecall, do you know if that is normal procedure? Or would that also suggest it was a scam. The text I got in advance of the call said;

"Hi Emma, it's Jane from EE in Newcastle. I need to speak to you about your account, so I'll call you shortly from an 0800 number. Please don't reply to this text. Thanks."

[chistery]

Well it's hard to say on that one. I have received the same text every time I've had a call recently, but I've never had a personalised one. I have been expecting it as I have an incident open, and they do send the text with the PIN, but I still think you were right to be cautious with the text you got about resetting account security. 

Have you called 150 and asked if it was EE that called? They should be making a note in your account to say why they called.

[Pqwrt]

I haven't yet, I didn't fancy sitting waiting for ages, but I think it's probably the best option at this point. Thanks for the help and the examples!