Is this call really from BT? How to check, in about a minute

An unexpected call. The screen says BT. The person on the other end knows your name, sounds professional, and is telling you something is wrong with your broadband — or that your line is being switched over and they need to sort something out with you now.

Here is the short version: you cannot tell from the call itself, and you are not supposed to be able to. The way to settle it is to end the call and ring back on a number you found yourself. That works whether the call was genuine or not, and it costs you two minutes when it was genuine.

Why the number on your screen proves nothing

Ofcom’s guidance on number spoofing is direct: scammers change the caller ID shown on your phone in order to disguise who they are, and Voice over IP technology makes it straightforward. Ofcom’s advice is that you should never give out personal information in response to an incoming call, and never rely on the caller ID as your only means of identifying who is calling — particularly when you are being asked to do something that has financial consequences.

So “but it came up as BT” is not evidence. It is the thing the scam is designed to produce.

What BT says it will never do

BT publishes this list itself, which is what makes it useful — you are not taking our word for it. BT states it will never:

• call to say it has found a problem with your computer;
• call asking for your PIN or online banking password;
• call asking you to send money using PayPal or money transfer websites;
• call to say your broadband has been hacked;
• call to say your hub or IP address has been compromised;
• call asking to take control of your computer unprompted — unless you have already asked them for support and are expecting it.

If a call does any of these things, it is not BT. You do not need to work out who it is, or catch them out, or stay on the line to find out more. You can put the phone down mid-sentence.

BT’s own instruction is the same one: if you are worried the call may not be genuine, simply put the phone down. And it adds the part that people find hardest — that it will understand your security concerns and will be happy for you to call back when you are ready. You are not being difficult. You are doing the thing the company asks you to do.

Why these calls cluster around the landline switch-off

The analogue phone network is being retired and providers are genuinely writing to customers about moving their landline to a digital service. That is real, it is happening on a national scale, and it is exactly the cover an impersonator wants: a letter arrived last week, so a call about “your phone line changing over” fits the story already in your head.

The defence is knowing what a real migration actually involves — which is mostly a letter, a date, and plugging your phone into the router instead of the wall socket. Our landline switch-off guide covers the real process. A genuine migration does not require you to give a password, make a payment, or let anyone connect to your computer during an unexpected phone call. Nothing about the switch-off changes that.

If someone in your family is being moved to a digital landline, this is worth saying to them out loud once, in advance. Being told what to expect before the call arrives works far better than being warned afterwards.

The one-minute check

Follow these in order. You can start while the caller is still talking.

1. Do not act on anything during this call. No PIN, no password, no bank details, no payment, nothing installed, nobody connecting to your computer.
2. Ignore what the screen says. It can be faked. It tells you nothing.
3. Say you will call back, then hang up. No excuse needed. BT says it is happy for you to do this.
4. Find the number yourself — from bt.com, from a bill, or from paperwork already in the house. Never a number the caller read out, never one in a text that just arrived, never “press 1 to be connected”.
5. Call back and ask them to find the reason on your account. A genuine contact will be recorded. Nothing on the account is your answer.
6. If money came up, ring 159 for your bank. See below — it is not for BT.
7. Report it.

Where 159 fits, and where it does not

159 is genuinely useful and widely misunderstood, so it is worth being clear.

159 connects you to your bank. Not to BT, not to your broadband provider. It covers more than 99% of UK retail bank current accounts, and Stop Scams UK says that unlike many long-form numbers, 159 cannot be spoofed or impersonated — which is the point of it.

So on this page it matters only if the call has moved on to your money: if you have been asked to move funds “to a safe account”, make a payment, or read out card details, 159 is the fastest safe route to the people who can stop it.

Two corrections worth carrying, because both circulate the other way round:

• 159 will not verify a call from BT. Different problem, different number.
• 159 is not free. It is commonly charged at national rate. Worth knowing, not a reason to avoid it.

If you think you have already given something away

Take these in order.

Bank or card details, or online banking access: ring your bank first, before anything else on this page. 159 gets you there. Ofcom’s own advice is the same — where cards, online banking or cheques are involved, your first step is your bank.

A password: change it, and change it anywhere else you have used the same one.

You let someone connect to your computer: disconnect it from the internet, and have it checked before you use it for banking again. Someone who had remote access had it to everything that was open.

Then report it. Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or at reportfraud.police.uk. Report the call to BT as well. It can feel pointless after the fact — it is not. Reporting is what turns one call into a pattern somebody can act on.

Related

• The landline switch-off explained — what a genuine migration actually involves, so a fake one stands out.
• Telecare alarms and the digital switchover — if there is an alarm or pendant in the house, it needs its own conversation.
• Is my broadband down? — if the caller’s claim was that your service has a fault, check it yourself in a minute.

→ Use the landline switch-off guide