Beware O2 UK PAY & GO fraud!

unlockk

Spotted few £10 debits authorised by my card (but not by me) to "O2 UK PAY & GO" in my statement today and immediately rang my bank customer support (thanks for 24 hour line!). The card is deactivated and the money should be refunded on Monday.

Unfortunately, I was told that they see a lot of cases like mine. The £10 debit is just probing the card to see if it works and then, quoting: "they hit hard".

Stay alert.

Kite2010

It's not just O2, the fraudsters use the other networks as well.

And it's got nothing to do with O2, other than being the company whom gets test purchases from.

Nilrem

I had it happen with both my credit cards a while back.

Unfortunately it seems that O2 and possibly other mobile phone operators don't really take that much care with top ups a lot of the time, and because it's so common for people to top up, it doesn't flag up with the banks automatically (unless there is something else unusual).

Techhead_2

Nilrem wrote: »

I had it happen with both my credit cards a while back.

Unfortunately it seems that O2 and possibly other mobile phone operators don't really take that much care with top ups a lot of the time, and because it's so common for people to top up, it doesn't flag up with the banks automatically (unless there is something else unusual).

I don't think that's right, all the mobile phone companies (like other merchants) have agreed security in place. In fact because of fraud they are even restrictions on value, location and frequency of spend. In order to use the card, the card details and some of the personal details of the cardholder are needed.

What that means in practice is that either the card has been copied and used in a shop or your card details are not as secure as you think.

Estateprincess

This is what happened with my credit card last June, they carried out 2 or 3 O2 top ups of £10 to test the card and then tried to use the card for other transactions that included £ 3800ish on jewellery some where in the USA!
Luckily for me Tesco flagged my account when they saw the O2 top ups and sent me a message to contact them. They were extremely helpful and cancelled all of the transactions so they never actually showed on my account! New card was sent in the post within a few days.

It is a very common way for fraudsters to check if a card is active before they spend spend spend!!

Have you given out your details over the phone to pay for something like car insurance? I'm sure this is how they got my details as it was the only transaction I had made on the account at the time.

redfragglebiker

Agreeed that fraudsters use it as a kind of "test purchase". My OH had his card details go awry a couple of years ago when LUSH were to blame for non secure encryption etc. Luckily we've both been with Orange mobile for a number of years so his bank phoned him to query it as he'd never purchased anything o2 before. Got the card stopped before anything bigger could be taken.

malcumms7898

If they are testing it with phone top-ups is it possible for them to see who owns the phone that is being topped up? (if it has been used). Thanks for the info, will have to keep an eye out for this.

pmduk

I'm not sure it's as obvious as people topping up their own phone. They're not bothered who benefits as long as they get confirmation that the card is active. o2 appears to be hit most as they're the least security conscious of the mobile phone companies, most of the others require you to register a card in advance.

unlockk

I want to call O2 and enquire about that. In theory, If I provide last 4 digits of the card, date and amount debited, they could locate the number.

dalesrider

unlockk wrote: »

I want to call O2 and enquire about that. In theory, If I provide last 4 digits of the card, date and amount debited, they could locate the number.

No they wont.

I work in a card fraud department.

Mobile top ups (ALL COMPANIES) are the most used fraud.

Its done by simply entering the 16 digit card number into a mobile phone. It is a actual top up, not a tester.

The card details will have been obtained months ago.
Remember everytime you use the card and that includes supermarkets etc. Their till roll has you full card number on it. They need it for auditing purposes.
Now just think what type of staff you see in shops???? Do you think they have all been checked to see if they have any convictions etc????
Bet not.....
Yet they have access to you card details.....:mad:

Kite2010

dalesrider wrote: »

No they wont.

I work in a card fraud department.

Mobile top ups (ALL COMPANIES) are the most used fraud.

Its done by simply entering the 16 digit card number into a mobile phone. It is a actual top up, not a tester.

The card details will have been obtained months ago.
Remember everytime you use the card and that includes supermarkets etc. Their till roll has you full card number on it. They need it for auditing purposes.
Now just think what type of staff you see in shops???? Do you think they have all been checked to see if they have any convictions etc????
Bet not.....
Yet they have access to you card details.....:mad:

Some shops block out the card numbers on their copies of the receipts.

As for tracking the "owners" of the PAYG sims, you can bet they are 99p specials from shops, paid for by cash over the course of a few months. Used for top-ups, before being thrown away.