VM Crackdown, no box is safe !

[chongsparks]

A very good friend of mine who's wife works for VM has told me to turn off my box on moday night a leave it off for at least 2 weeks, VM have a new system thats costing them thousands to run (hence the 2 weeks) and they can detect any box recieving none paid channels.

I know the boxes dont talk back etc, but believe me they know when they do an area sweep. Ive been told that some area's are up and running now and they have prosecuted loads.

Sheffield is starting on tueday and will last for two weeks.

I said that my box doesn't talkback and i was told this doesn't matter while they are sweeping the area they will find you.
I was also told it will still find you even if you have VM box attached with card in and a splitter to your illegal box.

Has anyone else heard this ???

[caveman_nige]

I have not heard of this but I am sure we would all like to know more. Did she say the box needs to disconnected from the coax or just powered down?

[smokey_jnr]

have not heard anything.. keep us posted if you hear anything else though..!

[biff2005]

ive not heard anything m8, but will watchout for more info on this...

[chongsparks]

She just said that it needs to be unplugged. Not sure if that means just thew power or coax aswell. I know that my box will be fully removed, better to be safe that sorry.

I dont have information on what days different areas will be sweeped though. I will try and find out more.

BTW anyone who thinks this ais just a rumour through VM offices, its not, she is part of the crackdown team and is working alsong side the police.

This is first class info

[belfastdaren]

if you could find out if this applies to northern ireland please
not sure how they could tell if a box was plugged in and left on a free channel like bbc 1 etc
thanks for the heads up

[dctyper]

and how do they intend on doing this impossible thing? Yawn!

[chongsparks]

I have no idea, mock all you want, im only letting others know what a very good friend of mine has told me, They would have no reason to lie to me.

Have you ever thought that they could transmit a spoof signal and see what nuber of boxes recieve it and how many bounce back, that could be done for every street since it will take 2 week to cover just my city alone.

Maybe an engineer will be sent out to every box on the street ( outdoor main panel at end of street ) and run tests from there. Like i said, its costing them thousands to do just for my area alone so think of the nationwide cost of it. Do you really think they will spend all this money when they wont find ~~~~all.
People are being charged in other cities right now for this, so it does work and the equipment that was found in the homes were dreamboxes/ eurovox etc etc. All with no-talkback

[dctyper]

every box recieves every signal, its down to the programming if it displays it. i was thinking this with the fraud channel, so i deleted it. even though i cant access it, i am still recieving it. and this will be with legit boxes too.

im not mocking you, its just ive heard this hundreds of times but no one ever tells me how its going to be done! your friend is doing what any jelous person would do, scare you.

if it were possible, scanning my home with any electronic device without my permission would not be advisable me thinks. without a warrant the evidence would not stand.

[satsmo]

Lets keep this civil folks. I am all up for debate on the matter. But simple case is mis-information is also used to good affect by them.

If they are dependent on signal leakage, this can be caused not only by other STBs. There is ground loop interference, unterminated taps and household RF sockets, normal coaxial RF leakage caused by bad terminations. The list goes on and on.

Other than this machine walking into your house pointing out the "other" STBs and then ringing the CC, thats the only way it could do it. Thats not mocking as I just dont do that to anyone here or on any forum. Its a fact that entry is still required.

If people remember back to last year there was a similar story. You dont think they tell their employees these things so they just keep it to themselves.

As I said I will let this run, but only if it is contained as a civilised discussion.

[chongsparks]

Trust me there not jelous, They are as much free tv as the rest of us on here, TBH they even do sly ccam etc, Thats how i got into the cable/sat hobby.

Im a sparky and my mate is a plasterer. his wife has been put on the team at VM to crackdown on this and told him to let us all at work know and to unplug our equipment for two weeks starting monday night.

Unless the bosses at VM are conning the staff to think they are doing something there not, then this is true.

[dctyper]

ok, ask them how its done.

[wooper]

I have no knowledge of how cable detection works, I do recall the story last year of clampdowns etc.

If a signal is entering your house via a wire, I plug that wire into, say, a flashed kryptview. How can anyone tell if I'm watching sky sports??

Does anyone know how this would be done? with no talkback on my box???

Does viewing it make the general signal for the street/area weaker?

Then divide subscribers in the street by signal degredation???

I dont know.

[satsmo]

I have answered the question to a point.

[wooper]

ok, you have done, ta.

Think what I'm trying to say is what you have said.

SHort of someone monitering my house, or each house in the uk, is this possible??

[chongsparks]

I'll do my best to find out the full details of this. Im only letting others know what a good friend has told me.

I would image different transponders will send a different signal down the line etc. Maybe all frequencies are here all the time or maybe they only come down when they are called for. I dont know how it all works.

What i do know is that im a sparky and if a house were using the smallest lowest wattage lightbulb off another house but claimed to have no electric at all. My testers would show results that electric is in there house. and not coming down there incoming line. then you could workout with a few more test who's house it was actually coming from.

Im not saying cable tv works like this, im just giving a little thought into the topic

[Jaffa]

A very good friend of mine who's wife works for VM has told me to turn off my box on moday night a leave it off for at least 2 weeks, VM have a new system thats costing them thousands to run (hence the 2 weeks) and they can detect any box recieving none paid channels.

I know the boxes dont talk back etc, but believe me they know when they do an area sweep. Ive been told that some area's are up and running now and they have prosecuted loads.

Sheffield is starting on tueday and will last for two weeks.

I said that my box doesn't talkback and i was told this doesn't matter while they are sweeping the area they will find you.
I was also told it will still find you even if you have VM box attached with card in and a splitter to your illegal box.

Has anyone else heard this ???

You are only doing what you think is right and warning people, unfortunately there have be many similar threads over the years but one thing we do know.

In 2 weeks time you will be able to say either.

1. I told you so and tried to warn you all.
OR
2. I guess my info was wrong, sorrying for worrying you lot.

Cheers anyway m8, keep us informed.

[wooper]

yes, thanks for the info.

Think I may unplug for a day or 2, just to be sure!!!

[caveman_nige]

We appreciate what your saying chongsparks, all will be unsure of how to take it and dubious at the info as similar alerts have come and gone before. As you said , see what else you can find out and we can go from there..

[Devilfish]

Take this information as you will. It's speculation at it's best. 9 times out of 10 people just pass information on and it grows arms and legs. Who has had the information before you and what have they added? You don't know!

I know you are only looking out for everyone but when you start this type of post, be prepared for a bit of slagging.

I'm not saying you're information is true or false because it's the first I've read it. But these types of threads are not new to me.

Wait until after the 2 weeks and see how many people complain, that's all I'm saying.

[boocay06]

what if chongsparks actually works for VM and is trying to scare us all? this would be a brilliant place to start sand spread a rumour

[bugaloo41]

Chong thanks for the info appreciate you are only trying to help mate.

Anyone who has been at this for any length of time will know that these rumours tend to have as much substance as Dale Winton joining the SAS. I will as usual take my chances.

[chongsparks]

No Problems peeps, Dont wont to worry nobody, im just telling what ive been told.

I hope it is just a scare and the cable bosses have told staff knowing it will get out and scare people. I just cant understand the specific dates that they claim it will be happening. then all back to normal.

Im going to phone then up in a while to try and find a little more out.

If it is a hoax, i do apologise in advance.

Regards,
Chong

[mept1]

only way i can see this workin is if they have somthing where they can pick up which green boxes have the hookie boxes pluged in to them then they would have to go to that green box and then plug whatever it is they have in to all the feeds from there in to each house one at a time to pick out who are running them and who arent.
only trouble is?
vm havent the resources to do this!!

[delv]

Many years ago my brother worked for the G.P.O(before they split into B T and the Royal Mail)and when i said to him that the detector vans were fakes he said that not only were they real but they could tell what channel you were watching where in the house or flat the tv was and on what wall.He swore by this for years.Anyway one day im watching a program about them trying to detect an illegal radio station and it took them hours,running around with hand held detectors and triangulating betwwen them.When i spoke to my brother about this he could not explain this.When i asked him if he ever actually saw inside one the detector vans he had to abmit that niether he nor any of his work friends had.They had been told by there bosses and they believed them.PROPAGANDA!

[Barnsley Bill]

Here we go...its xmas is it....for ~~~~sake..bad news travels fast..this is on every forum now...2 weeks and counting then..do ya think if vm had this tech..theyd be shouting this from the rooftops,to trash the cable scene..and do ya think theyd have cried on fleabay to take the boxes off,if they could stop them..they would have taken great delight in letting peeps buy there pressies.then announcing this.I have friends also that are engineers,they just had a good laff at my expence,when i phoned em.
Now a fact.....every nthell engineer as been given orders,to visit every green cab in the country,disabling the none subbed lines,this will also take a age..but eventually,they will get round to you.So minium package everybody..and b4 ya say.il just open the cab up and rejoin my connection..ya wont,there taking the house numbers off the cable connection..lol

[aftermath]

look at this scenario.

we all know that a lot or VM staff are as dodgy as some of us.

so i would not be surprised to see that their employers also know this.

so they send out a message to the staff saying that they now have a way that can detect their dodgy boxes and will be trying it out soon.

some of the staff start panicking and either grassing each other up or show signs they are hiding something.

We have seen these scaremongering tricks from VM before, even recently when the put some hidden channels onto a transponder that only a none VM box will find, with a warning message.

now would they go to that extent if they knew they had a cure for the dodgy boxes.

Time will tell.

one thing is for sure, and that is one day they will find a way, so untill then happy viewing.

[Fspiders]

I was gonna ask chongsparks what area he was in.. but there's no point as he'll be sat in the dark with his electric turned off looking at shadows passing the green box.

For years VM have known that 75% of theft of their product are by people who work for them.

For years VM have known that to stop 40% off illegal use of their product all they have to do is disconnect non subbed lines in the green box. They haven't managed that to date due to the fact that the 75% of VM engineers mentioned above will happily reconnect you for ?20. This applies to stopping illegal modems not just tv.

The easiest and cheapest way for them to halve their loss is to employ an outside reliable company that can make all green boxes secure (the one down from my house is wide open with the front panel missing) even from the VM ex and current engineers.

until VM start to clean up their own house they will always be fighting a losing battle.


Will I be turning my box off? Not a chance I want to see Newcastle thrashed yet again. LOL

As for the illegal channel warning... Nynex did the same thing many years ago on the analogue boxes... If I remember correctly the same message was re-upped to the new digital transponders 5yr ago. At least this time they have added some nice bright graphics.

Regards.

[chongsparks]

Sheffield area

[thered]

A very good friend of mine who's wife works for VM has told me to turn off my box on moday night a leave it off for at least 2 weeks, VM have a new system thats costing them thousands to run (hence the 2 weeks) and they can detect any box recieving none paid channels.

I know the boxes dont talk back etc, but believe me they know when they do an area sweep. Ive been told that some area's are up and running now and they have prosecuted loads.

Sheffield is starting on tueday and will last for two weeks.

I said that my box doesn't talkback and i was told this doesn't matter while they are sweeping the area they will find you.
I was also told it will still find you even if you have VM box attached with card in and a splitter to your illegal box.

Has anyone else heard this ???

if this is true i think it is just scare tactics then they would need the full police force going around with them because they cant enter your house without a warrant and a police officer which means unless they do this or you are daft enough to let them in you are untouchable to a certain degree

the only feasible way for them to do this is to do as barnsley bill has stated and unplug all the cables from the boxes in the street but even this will not work because numbered or not people would find a way to reconnect even if they had to connect every wire till it worked

or everyone knows someone who works for virgin or they know someone who knows someone they will just pay him ?20 to reconnect him so it will just go around in circles

another thing anyone who has broadband will not be disconnected so they wont lose tv so i think whatever happens they are just pi55ing in the wind

anyone who is worried take min subs or cheap broadband me i for one wont be losing any sleep and i dont think anyone else should

the only time to worry is when it becomes unhackable

[portbhoy]

DONT PANIC, DONT PANIC

[smoggie]

Trust me there not jelous, They are as much free tv as the rest of us on here, TBH they even do sly ccam etc, Thats how i got into the cable/sat hobby.

Im a sparky and my mate is a plasterer. his wife has been put on the team at VM to crackdown on this and told him to let us all at work know and to unplug our equipment for two weeks starting monday night.

Unless the bosses at VM are conning the staff to think they are doing something there not, then this is true.

Hope your m8's wife isn't the only female on the VW taskforce cause if VW are monitoring this thread they will know who she is

[Fspiders]

I'm an ex spark and in relation to you saying you can trace an illegal lightbulb coming from an outside source.. that maybe so, but you cannot tell which room the lightbulb is in.. or if they're using 2 50 watt bulbs or 1 100 watt bulb, drain is seen as drain while you're outside of the CU. And that's the point people are making in this thread that VM would have to enter the house to ascertain illegal activity. And the problem VM would have at the very first attempt of monitoring a subbed line... yes there is a drain but is it due to a leaky upload/download on a legit modem or just a bad connection on the subbed tv box... do VM risk upsetting a paying customer by trying to force access on the off chance they're wrong? As said above if you ain't subbed then you are probably the first they'll check or disconnect and they're less afraid of upsetting a non VM customer by forcing access.

Just my opinion.. time will tell.

Regards.

[Fspiders]

Hope your m8's wife isn't the only female on the VW taskforce cause if VW are monitoring this thread they will know who she is

Or.... maybe the wife has been caught at something and doesn't want hubby or anyone seeing her on police watch LOL.

[Donnie Darko]

This thread wants nipping in the bud,the original message is now appearing on other boards.

If your going to run a box and defraud a service then be prepared to face any possible consequences end of.

[chongsparks]

Well thankyou to all your posts about this. I did say in post no 1 that i wanted views on this.
I pay for phone, tv and broadband anyways so ~~~~ em. They would have to check all lines with oscilloscopes at the green box. theres no way this would happen as it would take ages and still realy wouldnt prove nothing ( My thoughts now on this )

No other tester would detect anything at all. if they want talkback, they will get it from my sub box with the card in.

Tried phoning mate up about 6 times and no answer from him so i cant get more info but at the end of the day it has proven a small sucess in telling me and a few others this due to the fact that we all sh*t it when we heard.

Im going to sit it out with my DM connected and hope for the best.

CS

[chongsparks]

This thread wants nipping in the bud,the original message is now appearing on other boards.

If your going to run a box and defraud a service then be prepared to face any possible consequences end of.


Ok, ok i was telling fellow users what i heard, thats it.

Close the thread if you must.

[Donnie Darko]

Ok, ok i was telling fellow users what i heard, thats it.

Close the thread if you must.

Aint got a problem mate with what you posted,seems the majority of people become immune to watching free tv and ultimately forget its theft at the end of the day.

[aftermath]

we wont be closing the thread.

you made , what you thought a valid point.

if you cant speak your mind then its not worth posting , and we want people to post and not be afraid too.

you may have been correct in hearing this , i no doubt you did.

but it happens often, and maybe a VM employee is doing the scaremongering.

We will leave it for now.

[Jaffa]

Just out of curiousity, how would they know the difference between using broadband and using a STB as they are the same line, what happens if 3 or 4 pc's are connected to the same line as the STB, can they tell they difference at all ???

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

no jokes here peeps, but i think ChongSparks should decide if he wants this thread to remain open or not. if he thinks that the thread has heavily bbackfired onto him to a level where he is being insulted then he should have a choice whether to keep the thread or have it removed.
Civilisation.

[chongsparks]

Pc's, stb's etc all have there own mac address. non VM boxes dont have a mac because they dont have an inbuilt modem. Dreambox has a mac but that is just for the netork card and down the line is a mass array of frequencies going to the independend systems, ie pc, laptop, vm box

IMO that would be the only way they could tell as there equipment talks back which "could" tell them where the signals are going but a non VM box doesn't talk back which "could" then tell them that the signal is going in house but not talking back, Also line noise due to bad connections etc could give a totally different oscilloscope reading than a non VM box connected in the line.

Note: none of what i have said above may be true but this is a way that "I" personally could see them catching people out.

[caveman_nige]

So many valid points being made here... Good to see the DK come alive and approach a an issue like this... I will stand on the fence as it could be rumour or it could be fact. Howeveri will be biased towards the scaremongering from VM, i have not bothered to switch off my box although (being flash now) i can do it from anywhere in the world from my Nokia N95... Maybe they just want to stop people watching the pay per view boxing this weekend, who knows.....

But i like that we can keep this open for now and not scoff too much... I had made the mistake of calling somebody on here a copper once (on this forum in the shoutbox, turned out he was as dodgy and as deep into his game and more than anybody i know)

[vrlika]

So what are the chances being caught if I am paying monthly sub for BB,Phone and (L) tv package and via coax splitter SV4 ?

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

So what are the chances being caught if I am paying monthly sub for BB,Phone and (L) tv package and via coax splitter SV4 ?isnt gettin caught what the whole thread is about? different opinions all over.

[chongsparks]

Leave the thread open if you wish, i dont mind, everyone has there own opinion at the end of the day and i realy hope that it is false information that i have been told, just a scare tactic from VM. But on the other hand nobody will know for now until a few weeks is over.

I've told you all what i have been told That has come from a member of the sweep team which they believe to be true.

Believe it or not, its up to you all to be carefull or not.

Thankyou all for reading my posts and for all your opinions.

CS

[caveman_nige]

:thrasher:You are right Sadiq, but I am gonna wait for news of people getting nicked in droves before i go off line... hard core....

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

Leave the thread open if you wish, i dont mind, everyone has there own opinion at the end of the day and i realy hope that it is false information that i have been told, just a scare tactic from VM. But on the other hand nobody will know for now until a few weeks is over.

I've told you all what i have been told That has come from a member of the sweep team which they believe to be true.

Believe it or not, its up to you all to be carefull or not.

Thankyou all for reading my posts and for all your opinions.

CS

it was a opinion for ur well being m8

[thered]

i think chongsparks made a fair point he posted what he had heard and decided to share it there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion

i think if anyone else hears any different stories they should not be afraid to air their views you never know somebodys warning one day might save someone the next

[alunfennell]

Just out of curiousity, how would they know the difference between using broadband and using a STB as they are the same line, what happens if 3 or 4 pc's are connected to the same line as the STB, can they tell they difference at all ???


Because normaly its one router per the House the bandwith would be split by 3-4 or how ever many computers you have connected to the router, same would go for the SET TOP BOXES used by the cabel company as there is a voltage passed threw the cable (copper Cable) they can measure the draw from the recievers in a neighbourhood and estamate how many none subscribers are receiving there service.

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

oh well.. if it happens it happens if it doesnt then it doesnt but no flaming at Chngsparks, he might be saving you here but only time will tell.

[birkenhead]

and how do they intend on doing this impossible thing? Yawn!

Well if they wanted to find dodgy boxes it wouldn't cost them alot of cash at all, penny's actually!! all they have to do is sweep the network for all units collect the MAC addresses with IP's, remove the MAC'S that they know are within their own ranges from the OWN database, then bingo they have only the illegal ones left.

then they can associate the illegal MAC address to the IP address, which is registered to YOUR address then your nicked.

very easy really.


Sorry to piss on your corn fakes, the software they need to use is solarwinds engineer edition.


If you wanted cheat this you can.

copy your MAC from your router (VM router) and edit your init file in /var/etc

Or create it! (if not there!)

#!/bin/sh
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:09:XX:30:77:XX
ifconfig eth0 up

# EPGRefresh starten
/var/bin/epgrefresh.sh &

[chongsparks]

Wouldn't the dreamboxes only show if the ethernet cable is connected as it doesn't have a built in cable modem ?

[birkenhead]

From the external network, they can see ALL MAC's if they wanted. All they would see is your main IP 84.60.7.XX with various MAC addresses, very unit connected to their network direct will have a MAC, you can use your stb MAC if you wish.

How do think they can switch off your Modem externally? VM and other providers all use DHCP, so they switch off your modem via MAC when you stop subscribing.

[thebigman]

How would they know if it was a router,gateway,laptop,pc or any other piece of perfectly legit hardware from the mac address?

thebigman

[satsmo]

A modem has a MAC what about an STB that doesnt? By the way thats a hypothetical question as no one here connects to the network unless they are subbed of course.

[birkenhead]

How would they know if it was a router,gateway,laptop,pc or any other piece of perfectly legit hardware from the mac address?

thebigman


That not to difficult is it, i know the range of legal MAC addresses of dreambox! 00.09.34.XX.XX theirs a start. finding other ranges wouldn't be to difficult if they contacted the manufactures of other illegal boxes. They can narrow their searches

Also all hardware is registered with FCC. So they can also get the info from there.

[thered]

all seems to be getting a bit going a bit far now why would anyone give virgin there box addresses they are doing no wrong they are sold as fta boxes its all pie in the sky scaremongering

[kenmonu]

we wont be closing the thread.

you made , what you thought a valid point.

if you cant speak your mind then its not worth posting , and we want people to post and not be afraid too.

you may have been correct in hearing this , i no doubt you did.

but it happens often, and maybe a VM employee is doing the scaremongering.

We will leave it for now.

well said aftermath.

[boocay06]

Well if they wanted to find dodgy boxes it wouldn't cost them alot of cash at all, penny's actually!! all they have to do is sweep the network for all units collect the MAC addresses with IP's, remove the MAC'S that they know are within their own ranges from the OWN database, then bingo they have only the illegal ones left.

then they can associate the illegal MAC address to the IP address, which is registered to YOUR address then your nicked.

very easy really.


Sorry to piss on your corn fakes, the software they need to use is solarwinds engineer edition.


If you wanted cheat this you can.

copy your MAC from your router (VM router) and edit your init file in /var/etc

Or create it! (if not there!)

#!/bin/sh
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:09:XX:30:77:XX
ifconfig eth0 up

# EPGRefresh starten
/var/bin/epgrefresh.sh &

sorry to post a silly question but how can they know the mac address of the box? i thought that the boxes did not talk back or send out any signals? i can understand the cable modem part but thats because upon initiation the modem contacts VM and lets them know its hardware mac VM in turn supply an ip. if the mac is blacklisted no ip will be supplied.

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

well said aftermath.

: dito : every one should feel free to post without the fear of a repercussion

[boocay06]

another far fetched idea....

1, VM creates a scare story
2, vm moitors all ip addressed visiting all known cable/sat sites
3, VM now has a list of possible culprits
4, trace down home address using ip address
5, perform test near culprit property

far fetched i know....

[.: JaCkPoT :.]

another far fetched idea....

1, VM creates a scare story
2, vm moitors all ip addressed visiting all known cable/sat sites
3, VM now has a list of possible culprits
4, trace down home address using ip address
5, perform test near culprit property

far fetched i know....

???? Not sure about that.

[caveman_nige]

Well to cap this topic off, I am still online with my box and I am not gonna shut down unless i hear the horrror stories....

[young]

only just read this post as i was busy last night watchin my box (actually iwas watching living with the wife) i was all cuddled up and adverts came on and guess what a advert for vm sayin they know about illiegal boxes and if any1 knows of anyone using 1 to ring a number and let them know. so if they did have the technolagy to tell wether you was using a box(which i very much doubt they do) why would they pay thousands of pounds out in advertising fees just hoping mrs greeneyedmonster from up the street will grass you up to them. so all in all i think this has been said i another thread somwhere else dont think that you are thew dogsboll**ks with one of these boxes and broadcast it from the roof tops and keep it to yourself and no one the wiser i for one am not turning mine off cause i want to watch united stuff celtic again on wed.....:manuscarf:

[jumpinjo]

i want to watch united stuff celtic again on wed.....:manuscarf:

i dont think so


http://i33.tinypic.com/6to4nk.gif

[bigman2]

From the external network, they can see ALL MAC's if they wanted. All they would see is your main IP 84.60.7.XX with various MAC addresses, very unit connected to their network direct will have a MAC, you can use your stb MAC if you wish.

How do think they can switch off your Modem externally? VM and other providers all use DHCP, so they switch off your modem via MAC when you stop subscribing.


How many people actually connect directly to their cable modem ?

If you are connected via a router then they will not see the MAC addresses for any equipment connected to the router. The ISP should only see one MAC with one public IP.

[mini]

I remember a while back near where I live. A box went off so this guys wife rings cable and reports it. So they send a engineer round to have a look, engineer notices the box and says dodgy box. The woman not understanding english properly says "no box good my neighbour and cousin got 1 too. So a few hours later engineer comes back with police and raids her's, her cousins and also her friends houses. I think in total they got 20 boxes and they all got fines ?2500 each

[boocay06]

I remember a while back near where I live. A box went off so this guys wife rings cable and reports it. So they send a engineer round to have a look, engineer notices the box and says dodgy box. The woman not understanding english properly says "no box good my neighbour and cousin got 1 too. So a few hours later engineer comes back with police and raids her's, her cousins and also her friends houses. I think in total they got 20 boxes and they all got fines ?2500 each

i heard that happened in Leicester?

[caveman_nige]

I remember a while back near where I live. A box went off so this guys wife rings cable and reports it. So they send a engineer round to have a look, engineer notices the box and says dodgy box. The woman not understanding english properly says "no box good my neighbour and cousin got 1 too. So a few hours later engineer comes back with police and raids her's, her cousins and also her friends houses. I think in total they got 20 boxes and they all got fines ?2500 each

Comical... can see that happening though

[boocay06]

How many people actually connect directly to their cable modem ?

If you are connected via a router then they will not see the MAC addresses for any equipment connected to the router. The ISP should only see one MAC with one public IP.

Maybe i misunderstood, but i dont think he means the mac address of any NIC's he means the mac address of the actual modem because the modem is connected directly to the VM's network. he is saying that if you connect your box up to the same network (via the coax cable) then it may be possible for them to pick up the mac address of the box just like they pick up the mac address of a modem, because at the end of the day the cable network is a giant optical network.

[bigman2]

Maybe i misunderstood, but i dont think he means the mac address of any NIC's he means the mac address of the actual modem because the modem is connected directly to the VM's network. he is saying that if you connect your box up to the same network (via the coax cable) then it may be possible for them to pick up the mac address of the box just like they pick up the mac address of a modem, because at the end of the day the cable network is a giant optical network.

Maybe but the modem can talkback etc whereas the stb box is just a dumb box which just receives a signal. Unless it talks back in some form and broadcasts some sort of id then they will not know ?

You can also get those little supressor things you can screw on to the F connector which block comms going back.

I thought the MAC address for a dreambox was only used for comms ? I see no need for it to broadcast this as it is used for networking (ie net connections).

[boocay06]

Maybe but the modem can talkback etc whereas the stb box is just a dumb box which just receives a signal. Unless it talks back in some form and broadcasts some sort of id then they will not know ?

You can also get those little supressor things you can screw on to the F connector which block comms going back.

I thought the MAC address for a dreambox was only used for comms ? I see no need for it to broadcast this as it is used for networking (ie net connections).

i agree with you bigman2 (see my earlier post) i was just explaining what i thought birkenhead meant by scanning for macs

[birkenhead]

How many people actually connect directly to their cable modem ?

If you are connected via a router then they will not see the MAC addresses for any equipment connected to the router. The ISP should only see one MAC with one public IP.

I think alot of ppl of getting very confused, we are talking coax connections, not Ethernet (CAT 5).

What connects to your coax connection? Dream, vbox, dbox2, virgin modems, Sub boxes etc..
What connects to CAT 5? PC, Lappy, Linksys Routers, hubs.


They are different.

Software which will sweep the network and collect all MAC connected via COAX CONNECTION, can't remember its been a long time... think the old protocol was ARP. Again they can collect all MAC'S IF they wished.

[satsmo]

Not confused what about STBs without a MAC addy?

[birkenhead]

Not confused what about STBs without a MAC addy?


They all have an ID of one form or another.... anyway its aload of ****, as I said if they wanted to find dodgy boxes they can.

They are not interested.

[Dazzonamission]

Well the bottom line is VM do monitor the networks just the same way we can with some MAC sniffers.
But that alone doesn't get prosecutions they would have to prove you are using illegal equipment within your property to receive subscription channels (Theft of Service)
That would mean them having to enter your property via warrant or otherwise and recovering the equipment,now you can own the equipment that is not illegal,it's just illegal once you screw that F into the back of your receiver and connect onto the network.
VM do not have the resources to investigate all of the suspected cases but will follow up calls to the fraud hotline as these leads have caught out VM staff dealing in such issues.
VM need a high level court case in order to make people consider the implications of getting caught with this equipment (connected to their network).

[bigman2]

I think alot of ppl of getting very confused, we are talking coax connections, not Ethernet (CAT 5).

What connects to your coax connection? Dream, vbox, dbox2, virgin modems, Sub boxes etc..
What connects to CAT 5? PC, Lappy, Linksys Routers, hubs.


They are different.

Software which will sweep the network and collect all MAC connected via COAX CONNECTION, can't remember its been a long time... think the old protocol was ARP. Again they can collect all MAC'S IF they wished.

Sorry mate not trying to get into an argument just a bit inquisitive.

Is the receiver not just a dumb box ? It is like when you connect the VM coax direct to a television and you get a few channels. The television will not have a MAC address. Same goes for these linux boxes I doubt they have a MAC address of the type you are talking about.

Were the instructions you gave for changing the MAC addy not for the ethernet port ? If they were then it hardly matters as the ethernet port will not be broadcast via the coax but via cat5 which should in most cases be connected to a router.

[birkenhead]

Sorry mate not trying to get into an argument just a bit inquisitive.

Is the receiver not just a dumb box ? It is like when you connect the VM coax direct to a television and you get a few channels. The television will not have a MAC address. Same goes for these linux boxes I doubt they have a MAC address of the type you are talking about.

Were the instructions you gave for changing the MAC addy not for the ethernet port ? If they were then it hardly matters as the ethernet port will not be broadcast via the coax but via cat5 which should in most cases be connected to a router.

The point your forgetting how they communicate to modems, they use the MAC address, not the IP. same with the old telepest boxes, Pace 1000, 2000, 4000 units etc... which as embedded modems, they were at one time used for internet access years ago.

I'm sure their are cases were items won't be detected as a MAC (DVB cards)? yet they still will show an ID of one form or other (a trace), which is all they need? the point is IF they wanted to do a sweep they can? the unit we are using will show, more to the point, their own database holds all their own MAC's, if they do a sweep they only need to remove their own MAC addresses, from the sweep.... then what ever is still showing is an illegal device, what ever it is TV or not!!! thats all they need to start quizzing.

What ever it is, it will be associated to an IP address at their end, which will be registered to a home address with a time stamp, these are the same records that would be used if the cops was checking if you were using bad pervy sites.

I'm not saying spoofing the MAC will stop them seeing the dbox, dream or what ever... but if you are worried it can help to throw confusion at their end, if they see two MAC's the same with the same IP, I would blame the software?

If your unsure what i'm saying find solarwinds, download it and try on your own network.... it will show, MAC, IP, OS, host name and platform, also lots more.

I've used this software to audit the corp network (company i work for) with good results, registering of over 10,000 units.

[boocay06]

The point your forgetting how they communicate to modems, they use the MAC address, not the IP. the old telepest boxes, in some areas they used the old Pace 1000, 2000, 4000 units which as embedded modems, and was at one time used for internet access years ago.

I'm sure their are cases were items won't be detected as a MAC (DVB cards)? yet they still will show an ID of one form or other (a trace), which is all they need? the point is IF they wanted to do a sweep they can? the unit we are using will show, more to the point, their own database holds all their own MAC's, if they do a sweep they only need to remove their own MAC addresses, from the sweep.... then what ever is still showing is an illegal device, what ever it is TV or not!!! thats all they need to start quizzing.

What ever it is, it will be associated to an IP address at their end, which will be registered to a home address with a time stamp, these are the same records that would be used if the cops was checking if you were using bad pervy sites.

I'm not saying spoofing the MAC will stop them seeing the dbox, dream or what ever... but if you are worried it can help to throw confusion at their end, if they see two MAC's the same with the same IP, I would blame the software?

If your unsure what i'm saying find solarwinds, download it and try on your own network.... it will show, MAC, IP, OS, host name and platform, also lots more.

I've used this software to audit the corp network (company i work for) with good results, registering of over 10,000 units.
birkenhead how do they get the mac address of the box if NOTHING gets sent out over the coax network? dreamboxes and dboxes send nothing over the coax the mac address that you pointed earlier is the nics mac address. i dont understand your theory. i have used similar software to solarwinds and if a computer is turned off and not sending anything out it will never be detected by any ssoftware. same with the boxes they only receive they do not send anything out.

the only reason they can turn on and off modems or other legit devices is because the devices talk back to VM. the devices let VM know the mac address and in turn VM can issue an ip or preform other tasks with the device.

[birkenhead]

birkenhead how do they get the mac address of the box if NOTHING gets sent out over the coax network? dreamboxes and dboxes send nothing over the coax the mac address that you pointed earlier is the nics mac address. i dont understand your theory. i have used similar software to solarwinds and if a computer is turned off and not sending anything out it will never be detected by any ssoftware. same with the boxes they only receive they do not send anything out.

the only reason they can turn on and off modems or other legit devices is because the devices talk back to VM. the devices let VM know the mac address and in turn VIM can issue an IPA or preform other tasks with the device.


The dbox, dreambox... doesn't have to sent out anything, your think of talk back chips, this isn't the case, they ping ever IP address, then the software (solorwinds example only) interrogates the IP, then returns with the details.

In the same way as you would, if you were using a small program like Ipconfig, if you wanted to know your IP address, you would use a small piece of software call ipconfig, ipconfig interrogates the network card, in turn give you your Ip address.... solarwind is much, much more powerful.

yes your right if the box is off then nothing can be seen, if it on, and the sweep is done? info will be collected.

[boocay06]

The dbox, dreambox... doesn't have to sent out anything, your think of talk back chips, this isn't the case, they ping ever IP address, then the software (solorwinds example only) interrogates the IP, then returns with the details.

In the same way as you would, if you were using a small program like Ipconfig, if you wanted to know your IP address, you would use a small piece of software call ipconfig, ipconfig interrogates the network card, in turn give you your Ip address.... solarwind is much, much more powerful.

yes your right if the box is off then nothing can be seen, if it on, and the sweep is done? info will be collected.
but the box does not send out anything so it will never have an ip, vm will never know the mac or any unique id because it is never sent to vm. so no, even a piece of software like solarwinds will never get any info form the box because the box will never send anything out ever. the box cannot even be directly queried because it has no unique identifier on the vm network like some one mentioned ealier its just a dumb passive device similar to a hub on a network i guess

[birkenhead]

if that what you belive.... OK.

live happy.

[Donnie Darko]

If thats the case just clone the db with the mac from a modem or stb?

If so

Telnet to the DM, and type the following commands:

cd /var/etc
rm init
echo \#!/bin/sh >> init
echo ifconfig eth0 down >> init
echo ifconfig eth0 hw ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx >> init
echo ifconfig eth0 up >> init
chmod 755 init
reboot

You need to change the xx:xx:xx to the mac address you want. Then the box will reboot... and the MAC address is changed.

[boocay06]

If thats the case just clone the db with the mac from a modem or stb?

If so

Telnet to the DM, and type the following commands:

cd /var/etc
rm init
echo \#!/bin/sh >> init
echo ifconfig eth0 down >> init
echo ifconfig eth0 hw ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx >> init
echo ifconfig eth0 up >> init
chmod 755 init
reboot

You need to change the xx:xx:xx to the mac address you want. Then the box will reboot... and the MAC address is changed.
Donnie Darko thats the MAC for the network card not the 'coax network'

[smokey_jnr]

guys if you think that th mac address will be picked up by solar winds then why doesn't someone test this and put the results up..

birkenhead you said that you could detect all peripherals on the network using tis software, so why doesn't somebody who has their ox bconnected to the HOME network run this software and see what results come up.. you can then publish the result son here too....

only a suggestion to stop everyone arguing.. IF there is a going to be a revolt by VM and shut down these boxes we need to work together to come up with a solution to overcome this....

[chongsparks]

guys if you think that th mac address will be picked up by solar winds then why doesn't someone test this and put the results up..

birkenhead you said that you could detect all peripherals on the network using tis software, so why doesn't somebody who has their ox bconnected to the HOME network run this software and see what results come up.. you can then publish the result son here too....

only a suggestion to stop everyone arguing.. IF there is a going to be a revolt by VM and shut down these boxes we need to work together to come up with a solution to overcome this....


This is a great idea,
Also just to let you all know, I decided to switch off my box after speaking again to my mate.

I didn't realy get any more info but they were determined that i believed them for my own good.

"trust me, we are sweeping the system in all areas, different areas at different times/days. I realy recommend that you believe me and disconnect your reciever. I will let you know when you are safe to reconnect it, it will be lasting for about 2 weeks"

That is what i was told last night.

Regards,
CS

[boocay06]

guys if you think that th mac address will be picked up by solar winds then why doesn't someone test this and put the results up..

birkenhead you said that you could detect all peripherals on the network using tis software, so why doesn't somebody who has their ox bconnected to the HOME network run this software and see what results come up.. you can then publish the result son here too....

only a suggestion to stop everyone arguing.. IF there is a going to be a revolt by VM and shut down these boxes we need to work together to come up with a solution to overcome this....
I believe to test birkenheads theory special equipment would be required to connect the computer to the coax on the dbox/dreambox. connecting the pc to the network port of the dbox and testing is a completely different test.

[smokey_jnr]

only a suggestion

can you not connect via a tuner card in the PC..??

[boocay06]

only a suggestion

can you not connect via a tuner card in the PC..??
the DVB/turner card doest send signals/data it only inputs, so i dont think that would work. maybe an old coax network card?, not really sure on that one though. maybe some network guru can help us out here...

[Donnie Darko]

Donnie Darko thats the MAC for the network card not the 'coax network'


Aint ever tried it,found it a while ago on the net,thought it may come in handy one day.
Whats missing from it?is it possible to edit in the corretc commands.

[kitt3001]

bring on the wall lol:party :

[boocay06]

Aint ever tried it,found it a while ago on the net,thought it may come in handy one day.
Whats missing from it?is it possible to edit in the corretc commands.
i haven't tried it either but looks like its correct for changing the network cards MAC. contrary to what has been said, i personally believe the coax doest even have a unique identifier(such as a MAC) therefore there's nothing to edit or change.

[zaf786]

Hi just been on another well known site some one has posted a letter virgin media has sent warning him that they know he has purchased a stb and along with usual bullshit over legality about watching tv without paying

[smokey_jnr]

what that site...? or can you get an abstract in of the letter..

[chongsparks]

NEWS!!!

Ive just been down to the local B&Q and on my way ive seen 3 virgin cars with about 6 small antenna's on the roof and a big coil shaped antenna aswell. never seen these before they were red cars with virgin media wrote in yellow on the side.

A bit dodgy that is. All fitters have white vans round here

[cantona7]

see if you can get a photo of one and put it on here so we know what to look out for
either way no old bill no warrant not getting in my house end of!!!

[Donnie Darko]

NEWS!!!

Ive just been down to the local B&Q and on my way ive seen 3 virgin cars with about 6 small antenna's on the roof and a big coil shaped antenna aswell. never seen these before they were red cars with virgin media wrote in yellow on the side.

A bit dodgy that is. All fitters have white vans round here


Someones taking the piss now.

[chongsparks]

Someones taking the piss now.

Im not taking the piss,

All of you that think im taking the piss or taking bullshit, good look. Ive come on here telling other users news about what ive heard and now what ive seen and all i get is mocked. Ive even read it in DW forums that someone as taken my posts from here and copied them to there, same goes over there, full of people taking the piss about what ive wrote.

Find out for yourselfs now, Just been on phone again and will be later but that will be for my own ears now

adios amigos

[satsmo]

Urban myth but the beeb actually rigged up "detection" vans going back to 1952 BBC ON THIS DAY | 1 | 1952: Test drive for TV detector vans (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_2521000/2521357.stm) maybe VM have resurrected another old ploy?

[cantona7]

i dont want to flame down anyone but if these "special"detector cars exist we'll soon see photo's of them and actually hear of people getting nicked
then and only then i might start to worry

but hey ho onwards and upwards

[young]

well if they do exist then i will defo know about them cause my missos is always looking out of the window nosey cow she is lol

[trevor1969]

this thread is so funny i think any 1 who thinks vm can find these boxes by scanning or silly little virgin vans with aerials on them need to visit a loony hall ,not wanted to upset any 1 but all who have a box just keep watching it you be ok ,unless you tell some 1 and they phone the grass up line ,vm want to stop the distribution of these boxs not the 1 person who as 1 tooked in the back bedroom only waytching it at the weekend ,

[wooper]

just took this out of my window!!!

http://uk.gizmodo.com/DetectorVan.jpg

[wooper]

Run, save yourselves.

Dont worry about me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[zaf786]

Hi we can take all the mickey we can there are some people reporting reciveing letters from vermin i am thinking if they have busted someone and got details from some sellers there are plenty of crooks on fleabay

[wooper]

Am sorry, should not take the rise.

Am sure people have been had.

I had mine delivered to work addy, so should be ok with that one.

WIth the recent crackdown on fleabay, maybe thats where they are getting info from??

[satman]

Taken from my forum today, here is a scanned copy of a letter from vermin,
It DID have a refernece number and address details but these been removed by the uploader,,,( and scanned in greyscale ).. but i still see 1 or two spelling or grammer mistakes you wouldnt expect from a big company like virgin,
but the member in question has no reason to lie, so i do belive the letter was genuine as he also sent me the FAQ leaflets he scanned that arrived with the letter.

The box in question was a kryptview and bought from ebay,,
I think Some dealer or dealers who have been caught have gave up there customer lists, but obv no one can be certain,
I know as well as anyone about the 'scare tactics', but do be sensable and at least have a vm box connected just incase any chaps at door :lol;
:coffin:

[smokey_jnr]

Am sorry, should not take the rise.

Am sure people have been had.

I had mine delivered to work addy, so should be ok with that one.

WIth the recent crackdown on fleabay, maybe thats where they are getting info from??

damn.. i just ordered another box yetserday...!!

[wooper]

well, am going to order another on payday.

now I know it works on the upstairs cable, will get one downstairs.

Will still maintain minimum package.

Mr Branson. more fool you for p*** poor encryption I guess.

[smokey_jnr]

that letter is a bit dodgy, all it says is we know what your upto dont do it..!

~~~~ em i say..

[satman]

^^ Yes i agree,,, letter wasnt mine,, i dont get cable in my neighborhood.
but was just to try show you what there upto,, this is defo a mailshot there sending to somefolks.

[Donnie Darko]

Could be a scattergun approach,mailshot well known areas that screw cc services?

[SatSearching]

birkenhead, I have followed this thread with interest, please don't take this the wrong way, I may be as usual missing something here (as usual lol).

In this scenario, lets assume a dbox2 or dreambox has nothing connected to the ethernet port.

The box has a tuner (demodulator, not a modulator), how can you ping a dbox or dreambox tuner if it can't modulate? Afaik the cable feed to a box is connected to a tuner (de-modulator) and not a modem (modulator, de-modulator)?




The dbox, dreambox... doesn't have to sent out anything, your think of talk back chips, this isn't the case, they ping ever IP address, then the software (solorwinds example only) interrogates the IP, then returns with the details.

In the same way as you would, if you were using a small program like Ipconfig, if you wanted to know your IP address, you would use a small piece of software call ipconfig, ipconfig interrogates the network card, in turn give you your Ip address.... solarwind is much, much more powerful.

yes your right if the box is off then nothing can be seen, if it on, and the sweep is done? info will be collected.

[father ted]

well i just phoned the number and it is the fraud line for sure lol

[satman]

well i just phoned the number and it is the fraud line for sure lol

pmsl,,, excelent, did you have a nice chat? lol
i reckon you should find an area thats not coverered by virgin, phone that fraud line and ask if your dreambox will work there, hihihihihihi :giveup:

[smokey_jnr]

i just bought a box of fleabay the other but hadn't paid for it.. i went to pay for it today and it has been removed.. so looks like they are cracking down suppliers first..

[wooper]

I was looking on fleabay a couple of weeks back, when I went to buy one, they were all gone.

Glad I didnt now 'cos I feel thats where virgin are getting their info.

Just my feeling on it.

[nilrem]

Boxes are always removed from fleabay as they always remain the property of the CC and selling them constitutes selling stolen property.

[thered]

Boxes are always removed from fleabay as they always remain the property of the CC and selling them constitutes selling stolen property.

you got the wrong end of the stick m8 they are talking about eurovox's ect these are not owned by the cable company and are not stolen property they are not talking about the cable company boxes

[trevor1969]

i am 1 of us that do not beleive any of this ,but only today i was told by my m8 he received a letter as the 1 above up till now i have not beleived any of this but my m8 brought the starview from off another well known forum who have now with drawn and only help on a fta basis so i would imagine the said site as been visited by some1 ,lets becarful out there

[trevor1969]

also i just been on fleabay and you can not buy a single starview or eurovox any kind of cable box .some thing is happening lads distributors look like they ~~~ed on fleabay:eek:

[cantona7]

oh well had mine over two years so i should be ok
and if not hey ho it was good while it lasted

seriousy i reckon its yet another storm in a t cup about nowt

so what a few fleabayers who have been ripping people off have been caught,not surprising is it really when you flog your wares on the worlds biggest market is it,i got no sympathy for them,but i do feel sorry for the people who bought them and have been grassed up.

hey ho tomorrows another day!!!

:devil::devil::devil:

[Devilfish]

well i just phoned the number and it is the fraud line for sure lol

:roflmao:

I hope you did 141 beforehand lol. Or used a phonebox hehehe.

[father ted]

:roflmao:

I hope you did 141 beforehand lol. Or used a phonebox hehehe.

:roflmao:ours has its own exchange at work so it goes out as an unidentified number mind you i nearly died when she said fraud squad i was gonna say hi am devilfish how you doing :roflmao:

[ireland-batt]

lol bring in on you ~~~~ers you will never take my box alive

[vrlika]

Yeah I just got mine yesterday and I am going to enjoy it. we are all in the same boat here so threads like these keep us aware of whats going on behind the VM closed doors.
It's like a storm with lot's of lightning and very little rain.

[bigup]

another one doing the rounds, taken from another forum.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/7011/virginbd0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[McMav]

Hmm not going to take legal action. Hardly sounds realistic is there a cope of the envelope it came in? The way it is worded makes me think it is fake.

[wooper]

I would say standard, blind, post out from list they have got from some fleabay sellers.

Got mine sent to work addy, and bank details are at my mums house with no cable.

Would be funny to see if I get a letter.

As an aside, if we could determine where people who get a letter bought the box, we would get a good idea of how virgin got the addy.

[johninboro]

Totally impossible, VM can NOT trace a dodgy box over thier network, they can only locate it to within 800 homes MAX.

[kr4sh]

Has anyone actually had a fine for using a decoding flashed STB? all the engineers I've ever met don't seem to care.

But really, has anyone actually ever been fined? or is it always just a C&D (cease and desist) letter?

[harry1986]

lol to be honest i dont give a peep im guna watch anything i like no cops cant do anything i got loads of mates who are in law.

[kb27]

I don't think mocking this is a good idea. Yes, we do hear these scare stories every few months or so, but one day, just one day one of them might turn out to be true.

I'm in Sheffield, and it's got me twitching a little! Especially as a mate has phoned me THIS MORNING to say his box has gone off, and is showing a message something to the effect of "Your analogue TV service has come to an end. Please phone Vermin on 0800 etc to discuss a digital tv package".

Be wary peeps - nothing is impossible.

[Donnie Darko]

Its well known the analogue service is ceasing,this is the reason for the message on screen.

[Sir Hilary Bray]

So what is the safest thing to do at the moment? disconnect the equipment? or just wait and see? :o

[Donnie Darko]

Just leave it connected,dont brag to mates/neighbours about it,if ever vm ask to access your property?just tell them to call again it aint convenient.
Worthy of note to sub to some sort of package.

[martinhughes@fsmail.net]

new to cable but a few years ago on sat they sent a singal and all magic cams were no good they all had to goback to be reprogramed.so cable may be able to do somethink like that

[Donnie Darko]

new to cable but a few years ago on sat they sent a singal and all magic cams were no good they all had to goback to be reprogramed.so cable may be able to do somethink like that


They do this at least twice a year now.

[kb27]

Went to my mate's and lo and behold his dbox was working fine. As Donnie said, analogue has been switched off.

However, I'm still reluctant to take this too lightly. I suppose all we can do is wait and see. I think the biggest question should be what would happen?

1) Vermin send out letters telling you to stop
2) Your cable connection is disconnected (and what if you are actually a subscriber?)
3) Your equipment is confiscated
4) Fine/custodial sentence

Anything else? Combination of above? Would they go straight to showing up with Police\warrants? (Personally I find this one highly unlikely - due to cost/manpower), or would it be vermin staff showing who you could just refuse entry?

Does anybody know of a user who got caught and what happened to them?

[bigman2]

If you are that concerned get a full sub or a dual tuner box and discoonect the c connection when you are not using it.

[kb27]

Well I have basic subs, but constantly disconnecting and reconnecting is a lot of hassle. If you get too paranoid then you could argue you have to remove the splitter etc every time too - very time consuming!

I'm just trying to discover if anybody knows anybody that has been caught and what happened to them? And how vermin actually go about it? I personally find it highly unlikely they come with police and warrants, and are far more reliant on people being stupid enough to allow them into the property.

[Dazzonamission]

Or you could just not have a dodgy box at all, and subscribe to sky HD like me only ?80 a month with internet :argh:

[young]

ive just heard that the sweep what they are doing is sending a message down the line to there own boxes and if they do not get it back from there own boxes this is how they are knowing you have a box ie:if you have a virmin account and only pay for the lowest subscription but have a dodgey box on the feed they know you are paying for it but there not getting any talk back from there box and putting 2 and 2 together thust resulting in a letter through your door..... this is somthing i have heard so dont know how much credability it has......... so what ive suggested to my friends is buy a splitter and run both the boxes for a bit

[GGM]

Not so sure about that one, what about people that only have Phone & BB????

[young]

i know what your saying but if they send a signal out to there box and it doesnt respond and there is supposed be one there ..they are going to think something fishy is goin on ...

[bigman2]

So its just catching out legit VM subscribers who have an additional special box ?

[young]

so it seems but dont hold me to that like i said i dont know how much cred this has got

[McMav]

I doubt that this is true but mu subbed box is always on neway I use it for on demand.

[Garry]

And they could have the legit box turned off cos their not there and trying to save some money. Or they have gone to bed and its turned off.

Electricity prices are rising.


Gaz

[loncell]

run a splitter with subbed / free box , if you get a letter ring and act thick.personally i think its total utter garb.its funny really how she's the only person at virgin who knows of the magic signal sender:)

[loncell]

another far fetched idea....

1, VM creates a scare story
2, vm moitors all ip addressed visiting all known cable/sat sites
3, VM now has a list of possible culprits
4, trace down home address using ip address
5, perform test near culprit property

far fetched i know....

sorry 1 more

6,VM end up with the wrong MAC/IP address due to the fact im running a flashed modem so they mistakenly smash down the door of a mr bertyballbag's home the other side of town!.

[loncell]

ive just heard that the sweep what they are doing is sending a message down the line to there own boxes and if they do not get it back from there own boxes this is how they are knowing you have a box ie:if you have a virmin account and only pay for the lowest subscription but have a dodgey box on the feed they know you are paying for it but there not getting any talk back from there box and putting 2 and 2 together thust resulting in a letter through your door..... this is somthing i have heard so dont know how much credability it has......... so what ive suggested to my friends is buy a splitter and run both the boxes for a bit



so what if your like me and after an billing arguement with vm i asked to have the lot removed.they offered the minimum tv package for free.i said its utter shite i'll use my freeview take the box they said keep it as a good will geture.and it remains under the bed thick in dust.

it the end comes so be it no one cant say theyve not had a good run.

[KillerDog]

Hi guys, i have been reading this post from the start and i didnt take much notice in it to be honest.But, after today, i do believe that this post has some crediblity.I Pay vermin for basic for everything, but i have a splitter and a kryptview.I went to bed last night, turned everything off, got up today and turned both boxes back on.My vermin box had alot of channels missing, and the box wasnt running right.I rebooted it alot and it still had channels missing ,all i cud get was bb1 to channel 5, and a few radio ones. I rang vermin, and asked what the problem was, the lady tested my line and box there and then and told me that vermin had "accidently" turned off my channels.She pinged the box a few times and then my channels came back on.I honest believe that if i had NOT of had a splitter and was using my box then vermin wud of put 2 and 2 together and thought "why is this guy paying for a service that he aint using". I have been with vermin for 1 year and NEVER had any problem, until now. Funny how it co-insides with these checks and tests for fraud.Again, i might be wrong, but i warn you all, get a splitter and use your subbed box !!!!!

[Bucky]

Yeah, I'm kinda thinking just to be safe, i'll hook up the old box with a splitter.

Better safe than sorry i suppose eh.

[ITS A SCAM !]

Or you could just not have a dodgy box at all, and subscribe to sky HD like me only ?80 a month with internet :argh:

?80 a month !! I pay ?54 for BB and Phone and i think thats expensive. Most people are watching their wallet with all the financial problems going on around us. No jobs are secure, and christmas is coming. i think that ?950 a year is too much, anyway my family still mainly watch FTA channels. Good old freeview....what did we do without it ???

[loncell]

Hi guys, i have been reading this post from the start and i didnt take much notice in it to be honest.But, after today, i do believe that this post has some crediblity.I Pay vermin for basic for everything, but i have a splitter and a kryptview.I went to bed last night, turned everything off, got up today and turned both boxes back on.My vermin box had alot of channels missing, and the box wasnt running right.I rebooted it alot and it still had channels missing ,all i cud get was bb1 to channel 5, and a few radio ones. I rang vermin, and asked what the problem was, the lady tested my line and box there and then and told me that vermin had "accidently" turned off my channels.She pinged the box a few times and then my channels came back on.I honest believe that if i had NOT of had a splitter and was using my box then vermin wud of put 2 and 2 together and thought "why is this guy paying for a service that he aint using". I have been with vermin for 1 year and NEVER had any problem, until now. Funny how it co-insides with these checks and tests for fraud.Again, i might be wrong, but i warn you all, get a splitter and use your subbed box !!!!!


"why is this guy paying for a service that he aint using".

what about if you unplug it at night or while at work ?.i dont discredit this thread there might be truth in it i really dont know but i do think that people read into it a little too much.its like believing in ghost then staring into a dark corner , eventually you will see what you want to see.

[Donnie Darko]

"why is this guy paying for a service that he aint using".

what about if you unplug it at night or while at work ?.i dont discredit this thread there might be truth in it i really dont know but i do think that people read into it a little too much.its like believing in ghost then staring into a dark corner , eventually you will see what you want to see.


Your right, as for turning off at night,countless people do this.

The only time a box will miss channels is when its been off stream for months,the card will be unable to accept commands that process channels etc.
As such when put online the box/card require updating,hence people ring vm the operator can see the problem and asks why,what,has the box been doing.

In the majority of cases people are virtually telling vm they have a box,they throw the subbed box in the cupboard,9 mths later cards/boxes are hit.They then put the subbed box back online and ring vm to say they aint got all channels.
Always split the feed and leave your subbed box online,it will continue to talkback and accept any updates.

[McMav]

Does the subbed box talkback when in standby?

[durden267]

Recenty myself and a few friends and family who currently subscribe to Vm phone and/or Vm broadband have been contacted my Vm asking whether or not we would be interested in taking out a TV package for free(basic package no premium channels) and I was even offered the Large package for ?5 a month! Anybody else been privvy to this act of generousity? If so, could this be a way to identify anybody with a 'dodgy box' by monitoring the signal to their real box? Not sure if it's a point or not but thought it was worth mentioning!

[KillerDog]

Hi guys, just read some more postings. I want you to know that i have always had a splitter, and always had my subbed box turned on.I only turned it off for one night, and when i turned it back on, it had lost channels. I rang up vermin and a nice asian lady pinged the line, and the channels came back online.Myself personally, i am in NO doubt that this was a tactic used to find out if i "noticed", my channels had gone down.Thank god for my splitter. Maybe im being paradnoid , but im not taking chances, and all i can do is do the decent thing and tell the members on this great forum my persoanl experience of what had happened. Make of it what u will, but please use a splitter, it will help to keep you safe.

[bigman2]

Recenty myself and a few friends and family who currently subscribe to Vm phone and/or Vm broadband have been contacted my Vm asking whether or not we would be interested in taking out a TV package for free(basic package no premium channels) and I was even offered the Large package for ?5 a month! Anybody else been privvy to this act of generousity? If so, could this be a way to identify anybody with a 'dodgy box' by monitoring the signal to their real box? Not sure if it's a point or not but thought it was worth mentioning!

I have had similar offers may times and always tell them I am tied in with Sky for another 6 months. I doubt it is a tactic to work out if you have a dodgy box.

[oo7]

hi all,

this thread have some credit.

since last night i only get couple of free channels... does anybody know whats the best thing to do, i.e not use our blackbox!!!!!


your help appreciated!
oo7

[aftermath]

hi all,

this thread have some credit.

since last night i only get couple of free channels... does anybody know whats the best thing to do, i.e not use our blackbox!!!!!


your help appreciated!
oo7

since last night the keys rolled, so if your box dont autoupdate , you will only get free to air

[oo7]

hi,
could you please let me know a link to update the blackbox with auto update procedure.
thanks

oo7

[Sir Hilary Bray]

Looks like things have gone quiet, what happened to the supposed massive crackdown in Sheffield?

[vrlika]

I reckon Vermin are watching this tread .

[Sir Hilary Bray]

You could be right mon.

[portbhoy]

It's the usual scare tactics used by VM, first the rumours start then theres a keyroll or 2 to give it some credibility this on top of the new illegal box channel has everyone scurring about noticing every little change to their service. Nine times out of ten it's service disruption and maintanence nothing more. If they could stop it they would, end of ;)

[Dazzonamission]

Does the subbed box talkback when in standby?

Yep as long as there is a valid return path then the box can talk back ,however this is generally used for interactive services and ordering movies etc.

[McMav]

cheers its usually on in standby but hardly used except for iplayer :D

[satking]

hi the box that vm are trancevier they requiure atwo way signal star veiw eurovox are just receviers even if they went to every c.a.d in the area they have not got the man power and two they need a search warrent for every house they enter my brother is a warrent officer for the local cc and m/c it like old sat day with sky / freeview plus it would bee easy if they went to the cad pulled the plug to see if you put it back or to see if you ring to say my box had GONE OFF AS :eviltongue::eviltongue::devil:IF LIKE

[Fspiders]

Looks like things have gone quiet, what happened to the supposed massive crackdown in Sheffield?



I reckon Vermin are watching this tread .


LMAO Heard it all now....

The reason this exclusive VM fraud squad and half the Sheffield police force haven't yet managed to get one box in the last 2 weeks is that they are logged in here and too busy to even think about working.

Kudos to Digital Kaos... Thanks to this site we're safe.. God help us if the site goes down for maintenance... LOL.

Nice one...




Sheffield is starting on tuesday and will last for two weeks.

I said that my box doesn't talkback and i was told this doesn't matter while they are sweeping the area they will find you.

Just wondered ...What are they sweeping Sheffield with? A BRUSH !!!!!!

LOL

[bigman2]

Just wondered ...What are they sweeping Sheffield with? A BRUSH !!!!!!

LOL

Maybe a toothbrush.

[trinity-_]

Hi all im new to the forums but have just read about this crackdown i have had my sv 4 usb for about 2wks now and i have a channel which is a v m security channel 510 which has a fraud msg on it could this be anything to do with the crackdown

[Jaffa]

Hi all im new to the forums but have just read about this crackdown i have had my sv 4 usb for about 2wks now and i have a channel which is a v m security channel 510 which has a fraud msg on it could this be anything to do with the crackdown

Hi m8, dont worry about the fraud channel, its a scare tactic, it only shows on boxes on a channel that you dont get on a subbed box. Just ignore it pal.

btw...welcome

[reddave]

Just delete it!!!

[loncell]

please can someone end this thread , its identical to one i read 5 years back on shack and look were we are !!.

[Jaffa]

please can someone end this thread , its identical to one i read 5 years back on shack and look were we are !!.

lol.....you have a point but as you know the shack was closed to registrations for years and by invite only, a lot of members here wouldn't even have heard of the shack so they all gotta learn sometime.

[southport]

They have no chance of catching you.......

[tdubman]

I have no idea, mock all you want, im only letting others know what a very good friend of mine has told me, They would have no reason to lie to me.

Have you ever thought that they could transmit a spoof signal and see what nuber of boxes recieve it and how many bounce back, that could be done for every street since it will take 2 week to cover just my city alone.

Maybe an engineer will be sent out to every box on the street ( outdoor main panel at end of street ) and run tests from there. Like i said, its costing them thousands to do just for my area alone so think of the nationwide cost of it. Do you really think they will spend all this money when they wont find ~~~~all.
People are being charged in other cities right now for this, so it does work and the equipment that was found in the homes were dreamboxes/ eurovox etc etc. All with no-talkbackas many people no that a number of people have been raided selling eurovox and all the others ...the police have taken invoices away and got warrants to search adresses that have had boxes sent to.... i and none of the other crews have been ask to attend any cabs all day on monday or any other day ...there will be a poss software change because of the sport that goes on over xmass ... so you order the right way

[gmb45]

hi all ive read every post on this here heres my view.theres only one way vermin is going to stop us is nagravision 3 to adopt this system by all accounts is very complicated and very expensive,i have read that vermin is making lots of people redundant perhaps this is one way of paying for it.If they do adopt this system and fcuk us all up i for one will be off to vermins opposition as will hundreds if not thousands of others im sure,so how much money will they loose there.one way they could keep customers is cut prices to say something like 30 quid a month for say basic bb basic phone and XL tv then i think people wouldnt bother with the boxes and vermin could charge extra for larger bb packages and tv and extra for ppv.But i think greed will stop them from doing that (greed will beat anyone in the long run).As for checking the boxes in the street its possible but again its the cost and the manpower would be massive,i suppose they could use a private firm do this on a few selected people which they know have brought them over the net then possibly prosecute them as scare tactics.Even if they did prosecute some people they would get away with paying the fine at a few quid a week,not much of a deterrent.As for boxes talking back my mate has had his blue box plugged in for over 2 years and not had his vermin box plugged for about the same amount of time he leant his vermin box to someone and cant get it back so i would have thought if anyone would get a visit from vermin he would but nothing just shows you if you believe everything you read he would have been done a long time ago.Everything vermin are doing at the mo i think are scare tactics and they are trying to grab lots more customers on the run up to christmas which they will have tied them into a contract for a year.personally i think vermin will adopt nagravision 3 but it wont be some months yet and if they get a lot more customers before christmas as im sure they have it will off set some of the cost of nagravision 3.In the mean time enjoy your box.And dont forget if vermin do take on nagravision 3 nothing is fool proof,all them people who are selling the boxes wont be making any money so they will be on overtime looking for a cure,so keep your boxes,money is a good motivator so a fix will emerge eventually just a matter of time.These are just my thoughts what do you think ? and i have a vermin box in my street right out side my window so i will be keeping an eye on it for unusal activity i havent seen any body go in to the box in about 2 years.

[larssonn]

Had a read of this when it was first started and god almighty it has gone bonkers with the amount of posts and views!

The post that alluded to the 10th Dec(?) as the day that the nagravision would be introduced and make all the boxes useless came and went. No surprise there. It's easy for someone to just come on and spew out loads of crap.

I noticed the channel that displays the 'illegal box' message and aint worried at seeing that. Virgin simply transmit x amount of channels and their receivers filter the ones that you have subscribed to so someone with an unsubbed box filters none and sees all the channels. You would never see a test channel either on a subbed box either would you, so seeing that wouldn't make you panic?


The unsubbed boxes have no talkback so its not straightforward for them to find out. That's why they are advertising on TV for people to shop people with illegal boxes. Even original TW boxes that have been modded aren't detectable as their talkback has been cut.

They could go to the pit at the end of everyone's garden but that would cost lots of time and money. Apologies if this has been said before.

I have Sky+ as well that i pay for so i only watch the cable for sports or movies that interest me and have the box totally unplugged otherwise. I believe that its not illegal to own a box, only to use it?

[GrimReaper87]

You guys had better take this threat seriously, the other night i heard the letterbox opening and was surprised to see several Small bipedal robotic eye scanners (See Minority Report) go through the house doing a random sweep which resulted in pictures being taken of attachments to live cable feeds in the house and instant zapping methods of boxes which has resulted in a single channel showing endless repeats of Richard Branson in a Hot Air Balloon.

Even if they could detect a box and came round, just unplug the cable feed when a knock at the door comes which is out of the blue (not Simon Webbe) and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Nagra 3 is not a problem either, whilst I know nothing about the programming side of things I do know this has been cracked some time ago as the US is currently on Nagra 3, I also have info from a good source that boxes will be available when the time comes (this is from the same source who assured me an SV1 fix would be available although could take up to a month from the date of the last VM shake up).

Happy Christmas All.

[Dazzonamission]

You guys had better take this threat seriously, the other night i heard the letterbox opening and was surprised to see several Small bipedal robotic eye scanners (See Minority Report) go through the house doing a random sweep which resulted in pictures being taken of attachments to live cable feeds in the house and instant zapping methods of boxes which has resulted in a single channel showing endless repeats of Richard Branson in a Hot Air Balloon.

Even if they could detect a box and came round, just unplug the cable feed when a knock at the door comes which is out of the blue (not Simon Webbe) and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Nagra 3 is not a problem either, whilst I know nothing about the programming side of things I do know this has been cracked some time ago as the US is currently on Nagra 3, I also have info from a good source that boxes will be available when the time comes (this is from the same source who assured me an SV1 fix would be available although could take up to a month from the date of the last VM shake up).

Happy Christmas All.

lol Hilarious !!

[mjharris]

Thanks for your levelling statement Satsmo. Its very easy for people like me who are novices at using this type of equipment to become worried by this sort of mis-information.