Virgin employee sold customer details onto a scammer.

RichardCoulter · 02-11-2025, 17:50

Absolutely shocking. First they left customer details on the Internet unencrypted and now this. We are all going to have to be extra vigilant.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/...d-10613065.amp

**Paul** · 02-11-2025, 18:11

Reading that it appears to have been 7 or 8 years ago, so I think you're probably ok now.

RichardCoulter · 02-11-2025, 22:19

The fact his punishment was only a £400 fine is equally shocking.

jem · 04-11-2025, 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Reading that it appears to have been 7 or 8 years ago, so I think you're probably ok now.

You know Paul, I’m not too sure.

If you take a look at the official VM community forum, you will see a quite a few very similar reports from VM customers saying that they have been ‘signed up’ for Netflix without their knowledge, and/or their existing Netflix accounts through VM have been hijacked, often changed to Spanish and they are locked out.

Absolutely no reasonable explanation for this has been given by any of the VM mods on the forum, any suggestion that possibly it is corrupt call centre workers accepting a few backhanders to ‘add’ extra services to unsuspecting customers and then hand over the details to others, tends to be met with a stoney silence and/or rapid removal of the post.

Now, of course, it could just be down to complete incompetence but does smell a bit fishy.

---------- Post added at 22:26 ---------- Previous post was at 20:58 ----------

Oh and oddly enough, just now.

https://community.virginmedia.com/di...ccount/5680321

**Paul** · 04-11-2025, 23:34

Not entirely sure what your point is.
The events referred too were 7+ years ago, yes, I'm quite sure of that.
It was also for a crypto scam, not for them to login to virgin users accounts.

Off course people can still have their virgin accounts hacked.
There is no evidence its linked to him, or any other employees.

RichardCoulter · Yesterday, 01:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by jem

You know Paul, I’m not too sure.

If you take a look at the official VM community forum, you will see a quite a few very similar reports from VM customers saying that they have been ‘signed up’ for Netflix without their knowledge, and/or their existing Netflix accounts through VM have been hijacked, often changed to Spanish and they are locked out.

Absolutely no reasonable explanation for this has been given by any of the VM mods on the forum, any suggestion that possibly it is corrupt call centre workers accepting a few backhanders to ‘add’ extra services to unsuspecting customers and then hand over the details to others, tends to be met with a stoney silence and/or rapid removal of the post.

Now, of course, it could just be down to complete incompetence but does smell a bit fishy.

---------- Post added at 22:26 ---------- Previous post was at 20:58 ----------

Oh and oddly enough, just now.

https://community.virginmedia.com/di...ccount/5680321

Virgin will be paying peanuts for their offshore call centres, so I think it's entirely credible to speculate that poorly paid staff in a poor country would take a backhander in exchange for customer data.

**Hugh** · Yesterday, 10:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Virgin will be paying peanuts for their offshore call centres, so I think it's entirely credible to speculate that poorly paid staff in a poor country would take a backhander in exchange for customer data.

Showing your lack of knowledge there, Richard - the wages are low compared to ours, but reasonably high for the locale; working in a call centre is seen as a "middle class" job in places like Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, etc., and the staff are nearly all graduates.

Carth · Yesterday, 11:14

Wouldn't it be nice to think people in this country, who had a 'better class' education and above average earnings, were immune to bribes and back handers too . . .

**Hugh** · Yesterday, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carth

Wouldn't it be nice to think people in this country, who had a 'better class' education and above average earnings, were immune to bribes and back handers too . . .

Do you mean like someone getting £280,000 for maximum 4 hours work a month, or someone else getting £240,000 for a 45 minute meeting while they were on holiday?

Carth · Yesterday, 13:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh

Do you mean like someone getting £280,000 for maximum 4 hours work a month, or someone else getting £240,000 for a 45 minute meeting while they were on holiday?

all of the above, and many more you haven't mentioned

nomadking · Yesterday, 19:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Virgin will be paying peanuts for their offshore call centres, so I think it's entirely credible to speculate that poorly paid staff in a poor country would take a backhander in exchange for customer data.

Since when has Taunton in Somerset been "offshore"?

jem · Yesterday, 22:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomadking

Since when has Taunton in Somerset been "offshore"?

The original post mentions an incident that may or may not have happened some years ago - fine.

What is the situation now, right now? Does VM have a support provision based in Somerset? Hint, no they don’t!

Have VM made a point of offshoring their support provision for some time? And why might that be? Because it’s cheap!

Don’t believe me, fine. Just pursue the VM Community support forums; just see how many posts there are that imply that the official VM support people simply lie, if in doubt, lie. Get the annoying person off the phone ASAP and chalk up another ’successfully closed call’.

Because that is all that is important to the call centre managers - close a call, it doesn’t matter if the customer is happy - irrelevant!

And why? Because their contract with VM is to close x number of calls per day. Irrelevant if it happens to solve the customer’s issue. The customer doesn’t matter, the important thing is that the chalk up a ’successfully resolved call’.

nomadking · Yesterday, 23:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by jem

The original post mentions an incident that may or may not have happened some years ago - fine.

What is the situation now, right now? Does VM have a support provision based in Somerset? Hint, no they don’t!

Have VM made a point of offshoring their support provision for some time? And why might that be? Because it’s cheap!

Don’t believe me, fine. Just pursue the VM Community support forums; just see how many posts there are that imply that the official VM support people simply lie, if in doubt, lie. Get the annoying person off the phone ASAP and chalk up another ’successfully closed call’.

Because that is all that is important to the call centre managers - close a call, it doesn’t matter if the customer is happy - irrelevant!

And why? Because their contract with VM is to close x number of calls per day. Irrelevant if it happens to solve the customer’s issue. The customer doesn’t matter, the important thing is that the chalk up a ’successfully resolved call’.

The thread is about a specific instance. The article is dated 31st Oct 2025. The VM employee in question lives in Taunton.