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Mobile phone insurance scam
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howsoonisnow
Posts: 64 Forumite
I've just bought a phone and o2 airtime contract with Onestopphoneshop (an online subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse).
Last week I received a call on my new phone from someone claiming to be from Carphone Warehouse's insurance division - this caller called himself Thomas and said the company was called Advance Telecom. My phone comes with 3 months free insurance, and "Thomas" offered me a much reduced premium for the remainder of the year, along with improved terms.
The caller asked for my bank card details "in order to cancel the eisting direct debit and set up a new one" but I refused because the call was from a witheld number. The caller agreed to call me back, which he did. However, this was from a mobile number.
I refused to give my bank card details as I was suspicious on a number of grounds - (1) the call was from a mobile number (excuse: "we work from mobiles") (2) for a direct debit one's switch for maestro number is not needed - only a/c and sort code. (3) Anyway, if genuine they would already have the necessary bank details, and would be able to change the existing d/d without cancelling it (4) the caller asked me to allocate a 4 digit PIN -obviously hoping I'd choose the one used with my maestro card. (5) the caller only knew I was a Carphone warehouse customer - he refered to "whatever branch you bought the phone from" and did not know it was an interweb tranasction. I said that I would not give my card details over the phone and asked for the deal to be put to me in writing. This was refused on the grounds that it was such a cheap deal they had to save all possible costs. The caller ended by giving an 0870 number for further contact (08701 996385). The mobile number he called from was 07877 670133. Needless to say neither of these numbers connects to a live human being, and googling "advance telecom" does not produce any results relating to mobile phone insurance.
I have reported this matter to Onestopphoneshop who confirm that their insurer is called New Technology Insurance. I have also expressed concern at (some) of my details being leaked outside their company. I have also reported the incident to the police. Beware of this and similar scams.
Last week I received a call on my new phone from someone claiming to be from Carphone Warehouse's insurance division - this caller called himself Thomas and said the company was called Advance Telecom. My phone comes with 3 months free insurance, and "Thomas" offered me a much reduced premium for the remainder of the year, along with improved terms.
The caller asked for my bank card details "in order to cancel the eisting direct debit and set up a new one" but I refused because the call was from a witheld number. The caller agreed to call me back, which he did. However, this was from a mobile number.
I refused to give my bank card details as I was suspicious on a number of grounds - (1) the call was from a mobile number (excuse: "we work from mobiles") (2) for a direct debit one's switch for maestro number is not needed - only a/c and sort code. (3) Anyway, if genuine they would already have the necessary bank details, and would be able to change the existing d/d without cancelling it (4) the caller asked me to allocate a 4 digit PIN -obviously hoping I'd choose the one used with my maestro card. (5) the caller only knew I was a Carphone warehouse customer - he refered to "whatever branch you bought the phone from" and did not know it was an interweb tranasction. I said that I would not give my card details over the phone and asked for the deal to be put to me in writing. This was refused on the grounds that it was such a cheap deal they had to save all possible costs. The caller ended by giving an 0870 number for further contact (08701 996385). The mobile number he called from was 07877 670133. Needless to say neither of these numbers connects to a live human being, and googling "advance telecom" does not produce any results relating to mobile phone insurance.
I have reported this matter to Onestopphoneshop who confirm that their insurer is called New Technology Insurance. I have also expressed concern at (some) of my details being leaked outside their company. I have also reported the incident to the police. Beware of this and similar scams.
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Comments
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Arrrgggghhhhh I hate these people.
When I worked at CPW; we had letters given out to every customer regarding these scams. They ask for the whole years premium in one go, at a 'discount' - but that didn't have half the cover that CPW (and it's sister companies) offered. I had a whale of a time when they called me up on my brand new manager's phone (all store managers get a handset paid in part by CPW) - which was obviously owned by CPW itself
I always warned my customers to tell them to get lost. It only used to happen to o2 and voda customers as CPW bought the numbers in 'blocks' and these companies would just go through and keep dialling til they got to one that was connected. Because CPW couldn't hide that they'd bought these numbers, they make it sound like CPW gave them the customer's details, when they hadn't...
Sorry they tried it with you mate...:cool: Proud DFW Nerd 135 :cool:Sealed Pot Challenge - 0190 -
I am absolutly furious at this!!
Obviously you only ever find out about these things when it has happened to you, your not going to search for a phone scam on the internet because you think it might happen so these sites are nothing more than a place for people to have a moan about whats happened!
So here goes i'm having a moan! My partner again signed up to a new contract at the Carphone Warehouse on 23.02.2008 to sign up with O2. On Monday 25th he got a phone call, the guy on the end of the phone said he was from Carphone Warehouse and that he was ringing to verify the details of his insurance. Being very gullable he told them all his info, however it made him suspisious as at the end of the call the man said "if anyone else calls on this matter terminate the call straight away". My boyfriend then rang me and told me about it and thought it was dodgy! He then rang Carphone warehouse to see if they had really juat rang him and thay said no.
He then rang the bank to cancel his card but they informed him that any transaction that was put through between the phone call from the scammers and his phone call the the bank he would be liable for!
We have since recieved a letter from ADVANCE TELECOM to confirm that he has taken out an insurance policy with them and that he will be charged £85.
I then rang the number on the letter myself, (08448841954) and spoke to a very rude man who said he would cancel it and we would get a refund within 5 days. I then said I would like to make a complaint and he said "do what you like" and put the phone down!
We still don't know if the £85 has been taken out yet and if it has they wont be able to refund to the origional details that they have as they have been cancelled. Needless to say we don't want to ring up and give them other details to pay into as they may well use them to take money out!!
I am soooo angry about this and to read all these posts on here makes me more so as how frustrating that nothing has been done about this and these people are clearly sitting laughing now!!!0 -
can someone please help me out?
I just realised I've been scammed too; after receiving the letter and googling the company and finding lots of threads about it being a scam. I'm just in shock right now.. can't beleive i'm such an idiot. £85 is a lot for a student.
What do I do? I'm sending them a letter because the letter says they will cancel if i ask within 7 days... I know i dont have much hope but its worth trying anyway.
Should I contact bank/police immediately? or should i wait to see if they actually refund me themselves.
If i do take action immediately, on what grounds can I claim its a fraudulent transaction?
Would it be enough to say there is lots of information about the company being a scam?
By the way, quick question. they only asked for last 11 numbers of my card... how did they use that to charge me?
Thanks in advance.0 -
I recieved a call from a company who said "" the policy u took out on ur mobilefone""" implying that I had already taken it out.....but with me I never takeout any insuranceformy mobiles...so i just said no
I think they just wait for u to say the word "YES"
and then just like "force" u to take out the insurance!!!!!!0 -
i called them up today, and the guy said my policy is cancelled and i will be refunded the money within a month. Should I just leave it there? Cuz i cant really go complaining to the bank if they said they will cancel...its just that I dont really trust them.
They seem pretty dodgy... e.g. the guy read out my password to me to confirm it, as opposed to asking me for it. lol. And he had the wrong password down anyway... just sounded slightly like what i'd said.
Then i called up 15 mins later, cuz I got cut off at the end (my fault), and same guy picked up and as soon as I started talking, the guy asked me if I'm the "person from [insert street name here]." !!!
Hardly seem like a proper call centre or anything!0 -
laurajayne wrote: »Arrrgggghhhhh I hate these people.
When I worked at CPW; we had letters given out to every customer regarding these scams. They ask for the whole years premium in one go, at a 'discount' - but that didn't have half the cover that CPW (and it's sister companies) offered. I had a whale of a time when they called me up on my brand new manager's phone (all store managers get a handset paid in part by CPW) - which was obviously owned by CPW itself
I always warned my customers to tell them to get lost. It only used to happen to o2 and voda customers as CPW bought the numbers in 'blocks' and these companies would just go through and keep dialling til they got to one that was connected. Because CPW couldn't hide that they'd bought these numbers, they make it sound like CPW gave them the customer's details, when they hadn't...
Sorry they tried it with you mate...
I actually had that exact call literally 2 minutes after turning on my brand new phone from CPW at the tail end of last year.
Quite proud of myself for telling them where to go considering I was on the bus and fairly confused by who was on the phone.
Cheers0 -
Anyone whose been a victim of these companies should report their complaint to the Financial Services Authority (www.fsa.gov.uk) and their local trading standards service. These companies are not usually authorised to sell insurance and try to get round the law by calling the policy "warranties". The FSA can hopefully investigate if they receive complaints. Contact your local trading standards as well via the Consumer Direct helpline service on 08454 040506 - trading standards has got powers to take action where companies make misleading statements such as claiming to be from the shop where the phone was bought, or from your existing insurer.
Hope this helps!0 -
i had a call from sum1 at cpw sayin i needed to verify my details b4 they carried on the call. i said 'no sorry' then she kept tryna get me to say ma details. i asked what it was about and she said 'i need u to confirm your details first'.
i put the fone down and a couple days later another guy did the same thing and when i refused he said 'so ur not interested then?'. i put the fone own.
it was an 0208 number aswell...0 -
Hi Ahmadnat, did they just ask you for the first 11 numbers? On invoices and receipts usually only the last 3 or 4 numbers are visable the rest are blanked out with ******Your Beliefs Determine The Actions You Take...Live with Passion0
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I got a new phone from the carphone warehouse just 2 days ago, ever since i have been recieving phone calls from pushy insurance companies asking me to sign up even though i had signed up to insurance while i was there in the store, i even gave one my card details as they said that they were calling from the carphone warehouse, then i told them to cancel the payment and they put the phone down... Everyone that has called me so far sounds like they are on drugs and clearly arent professional people, i just about had enough of the phone calls and told them all i didnt want to sign up, but then today i recieved yet another call from neptune services, and when i asked why they keep calling me the person on the other end of the phone said to me "Look C!nt, i have all of your card details and your name and address, if you dont make the payment il be coming around to see you, and take all of your money out of the bank now!" i was obviously shocked and scared, so i rang my bank canceled my card, called the carphone warehouse to see why they were giving out the information, and they said that they dont give out information to anyone (obviously there is someone working there selling peoples information) they couldnt really help.. i called the police they said that theres nothing they can do.. surprise surprise.. But if its any consilation they did say that if they did come and break into my house they would give me a refrence number! - I am a widowed disabled woman there is noone here to protect me, and i am really scared, i just know im not going to be having a good night sleep, especially because they actualy read my address out, when i challenged the fact that they had my address. I am so scared, i dont know what to do, the police or anyone cannot help, Please for your own sake dont answer the phone if a witheld number calls you, if you have a phone from the carphone warehouse.0
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