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Which? reported a bogus SkyUK Complaints page on Facebook that funnelled a reader's complaint to fraudsters posing as Sky staff on WhatsApp.
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Which?According to Which?, a reader trying to sort out a problem with Sky found a Facebook page called SkyUK Complaints and posted a complaint there, believing it was official.
Within minutes he had a WhatsApp call from someone claiming to be Sky customer services. They knew the contents of his Facebook post, even though it had not yet been published. That detail is the key to how the scam works: the fake page is not a complaints forum, it is a feed straight to the scammer, and anything typed into it is read before Sky or Facebook's moderators ever see it.
The caller refused to help until he filled in a 'compensation form'. He had not asked for compensation and said so. The form asked for a lot of personal information and looked more suited to a holiday claim than anything to do with Sky. He did not submit it.
While he was still on the call, his phone became unresponsive. He grew suspicious that someone had taken control of it, ended the call, restarted the phone, changed his password and contacted his bank.
The scam depends on the victim trusting the platform before the person. A Facebook page with a brand name in its title reads as official, and once someone has posted a complaint there, a fast, knowledgeable reply feels like proof rather than a warning sign. The scammers do not need to guess what the victim wants; the victim has already written it down for them.
Faye Lipson, Which? senior researcher, confirmed the reader did the right thing in reporting both the Facebook group and the WhatsApp number to Meta. By the time he contacted Which?, the original SkyUK Complaints page had vanished, but a near-identical unofficial group had appeared in its place, also steering people towards WhatsApp instead of Sky's own customer service channels. Which? reported that one too, through Facebook's in-app reporting tool. Meta initially declined to remove it, then reversed that decision a few days later.
He did not fill in the bogus form, but the scammers still have his phone number and whatever details he gave in the original Facebook post. Which? advises being very cautious of any unsolicited call asking for payment or personal information, especially one claiming to come from a trusted organisation, and checking such requests independently using contact details found elsewhere, not the ones the caller supplies. He has since replaced his phone. The National Cyber Security Centre has a guide for anyone who suspects their phone has been hacked or infected with malware.
