to think this call from 'Sky' was a scam?

[nearlynermal]

Got a call from what sounded like a busy call centre saying it was Sky technical support and was I having patchy internet connection (I had actually contacted them about this previously.)

Person A took me through the speed test (legit-Sky uses this) and then passed me onto a second person who got me to go to a 'validator' website that showed a series of error messages, which he said he could sort out for me.

At that point I was getting a bit suspicious so I said I had a meeting and needed to call Sky back. I asked him for a reference number so I could pick up where I'd left off. He got a bit shirty about that so I hung up.

99% sure it's fraud and would have led to a download or financial information changing hands. Anyone else had this?

We had some very suspicious 'automated' BT calls about exactly same issue yesterday OP, hung up on all of them.

I had this a couple of weeks ago. I suspected it was a load of tosh so I also hung up.
My internet connection has been fine, never dropped out since WFH with two of us using WiFi so no idea why Sky would tell me it was faulty.

Sounds like a scam. Quite a few similar threads on the Sky forum:

helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/call-re-broadband-speed-slow/td-p/3346758

helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Potential-scam-call-internet-speed/td-p/3409383

Presumably you didn't download anything from the 'validator' website?

I’ve seen similar scams where they show you error messages (or in some cases take over your PC remotely to show you where ‘viruses’ are, even though it’s perfectly normal script). They then try and sell your anti virus software for a one off fee to eradicate the issue. Maybe this person was leading up to similar, or maybe if you’d gone further they would’ve been able to obtain more personal data.

The only way to know for sure would be to ring Sky and ask if they know anything about it.

As a general rule if you’re ever unsure about the validity of a caller, tell them you’re going to hang up and call them back on their main customer services number which you can find online etc - legitimate callers won’t mind you doing that.

I had a similar call this week supposedly from BT Openreach. I ended the call.

Definitely a scam, never ever go to any website that someone who calls you asks you to, it could be literally anything. If in doubt, hang up and call the company direct on a trusted number.
I get calls from ‘sky’ at least once a week, it’s never actually sky, in fact I used to work for sky and unless you log a fault that requires an arranged call back no one would ever be in your account to know you had issues unless you called, the system doesn’t work like that unless it’s a full area outage

It was a scam call. If you have the number that was calling check it on here who-called.co.uk/

Definitely a scam. Unfortunately it was bad timing that you really were having an issue with your internet. Unless I am specifically waiting for a call back from someone, I treat everything as a scam. Even the poor woman who rang legitimately from my bank about some information I had already been asked in writing to upload, got a grilling before I would part with any details. I'm not a particularly confident person, but I'm very suspicious of everyone, which sometimes makes up for it!

It’s difficult getting a problem fixed from a company like Sky without hassle, arranging a suitable time and date and then waiting in all day when they inevitably arrive late, wasting your whole day and ruining any plans you’d have made if they came on time, so the chances that they would actively phone you before you even noticed a problem and offer to fix it right there and then is slim to none and only happens on the 12th of Never.

@conkersarebonkers thanks for putting me onto the forum. No, I'm pretty good about not downloading anything or supplying info. Looking at it again, looks like validator is completely legit, just completely unrelated to what they claimed. Quite creative.

Honestly, I just assume most phone calls and emails I get now are scams. I tend to ignore everything. If they really want to get a hold of me they will leave a message.

Yes, scam, especially if on a landline, most landline calls are scams, I disconnected mine because of this

Very often 'scammers' will ask you to look at the Windows Event Log (for PC users) and show you a list of 'faults'

If you google 'windows event log' or go to 'howtogeek.com' it will explain what it is, and perhaps most importantly it states...

'Note that even a properly functioning system will show various warnings and errors in the logs you can comb through with Event Viewer. Scammers even use this fact on occasion to deceive people into believing their system has a problem only the scammer can fix.'
(my embolding)

My starting point for an unsolicited phone calls is one of mistrust. A bit of a sad comment of society, I suppose.

It does sound like a scam. Better to be safe than sorry 😊 If you have their number that they rang off, I'd report to the police/sky too. Especially as elderly and vulnerable people may fall for it.

Yep had the virgin media scammers call last week. When I said I wasn't the account holder and did they want to speak to him, they hung up.

I get these regularly from "Sky" telling me I have problems with my broadband. Last week I told him he was a scammer and he replied that I was "a f*ing idiot". My husband told one at the weekend it was a scam and they hung up on him. Definitely not legitimate. Either hang up or have a lovely long chat with them without ever turning on the computer.

Definitely a scam. We had loads of problems with our broadband via SKY and had Open Reach out 9 times since March. Sky never called us once. It was always us contacting them. And they never get you to visit a website. They ask you to check everything is plugged in okay, reset from their end and if not fixed book an open reach engineer for you.