My network has been hacked?

[timnagy]

Let me start by saying that I've got a home network connected to my Comcast cable modem that is entirely Cisco Meraki, with a Meraki MX68CW serving as the firewall/router. I'm a CCIE-certified network engineer, as well.

So it was a bit of a shock to get a call purporting to be from Comcast this afternoon (1-800-226-2278) saying that they had information that my home network was compromised. The rep did provide my name and address (on his second try, he named someone else first) and then tried to tell me that something on my network was hacked and that he would help me fix it. I expressed concern and shock, since I can quite quickly and easily see every device that is connected to my home network (nothing unusual) and can run a packet capture remotely at any time (again, nothing unusual while I was speaking with him).

He gave me a public IP address that he said is attaching to my home network and doing "illegal things" from my public IP address. When I said that I would follow his steps to fix it, he had me open the network utility in Mac and look at connected IPs.  Of course, the IP address that he had wasn't listed there.

At this point, he offered to send a tech "free of charge" to fix this issue. I said sure, send a tech, let's see what he can do. Then he said great, they can send one for $110. I declined.

Is this some kind of scam? What the heck is going on?

[MNtundraRET]

The odds are high that was a scam. They can easily spoof any name or phone number on your ID.

I just hang up on them immediately. You know if your system is working properely. There have been a lot of these type scans this year. No company is imune to this type of scam: IRS, goverment agencies, any company. 

[darkangelic]

Some person cold called you to scare monger about something terrifying about to happen  to get you to cough up money? 

Of course it's a scam.

It's especially easy nowadays, given that caller IDs can be spoofed to pretend to be anyone. (My wife has gotten spam calls from her own cell phone if you believe the caller ID). 

[ComcastChe]

Hi @timnagy, 

Thanks for using the forums to bring this to our attention. I agree with others on this post, that definitely appears to be a scam. I would highly recommend contacting our CSA team (Customer Security Assurance Team) to see if there is any way we can prevent future attempts like this. 1-888-565-4329

Also, keep in mind, as an Xfinity internet subscriber, we offer Norton Security Online at no charge for all Xfinity Internet subscribers. You can find more information here, https://comca.st/34vyShB). You can also download Norton on your mobile devices as well by following this link, https://comca.st/2syOLqh. I hope this helps. 

[version2]

I’ve gotten the same calls from the Comcast number itself. (1-800-266-2278) so either they’re people tapping into the Comcast lines or they actually work for Comcast and are doing this independently during their free time. Every time I receive a call it’s from a person with a middle eastern accent and an American sounding name.

I talked to a Comcast agent in the past a few days after receiving one of these calls and it was never logged in their computer system, so I think someone is hacking into Comcast’s phone system and making these calls. Don’t know for sure though but they are definitely a scam.

[darkangelic]

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@version2 wrote:
I’ve gotten the same calls from the Comcast number itself. (1-800-266-2278) so either they’re people tapping into the Comcast lines or they actually work for Comcast and are doing this independently during their free time. Every time I receive a call it’s from a person with a middle eastern accent and an American sounding name.

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Or  they could simply be scammers spoofing the caller ID to make it look like a legitimate call.  Spoofing the caller ID is ridiculously easy.