mobile phone scam using fraudulent bank account

usignuolo

I posted this on Bank Accounts board but it occurs to me I ought to post it here too. A courier delivered a parcel to me at home this morning, addressed to me. It was from Phones4U and contained a top quality HTC phone and some fancy headphones. It was all addressed to me and the paperwork said I had placed the order. Only I hadn't.

I called up P4U and they said at once it was a scam by fraudsters wanting to get their hands on a good phone. They have to have it delivered to a valid home address. P4U said next thing that would happen would be a call from someone claiming to be a courier and saying it was a misdelivery and they needed to collect it. That is exactly what happened. (So quick I wondered if they were waiting outside.) My husband had just gone out so, as instructed by P4U, I said my husband had already taken it to the post office to send back to the supplier. He rang off.

P4U said that there was also a contract with Orange taken out on my NatWest bank account. I do not have and never have a NatWest bank account so I phoned NatWest to tell them. They said they could not process this information unless I gave them full details of the account including branch and account codes. Which of course I do not have. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, they hung up on me......

I had better luck with Orange where I already have an account. They confirmed a NatWest account for my name and address had been passed to them by P4u this morning to pay for the contract which had been set up. They cancelled the number and passed the information onto their fraud team.

What is puzzling me is that NatWest require sight of various things like passports and credit cards to set up an account and this are all safely in my possession. How did the account get set up in the first place?

Archi_Bald

To save people from posting the same again, here's the original thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4893726

Jon_01

The Nat West acc properly isn't in your name (they don't need to be in the same name as the acc holder).

This is the fairly standard way of getting a phone by fraud. Sometimes the phone isn't even delivered to your address the fraudsters have ways of intercepting them before they get to the addresses. The first you know is when the first bill drops on to your mat...

usignuolo

Yes it is in my name Orange confirmed that, it was activated this morning via Phone4U and at my address. Orange have now blocked it but have to worry they might try to use same fake account for something else.

Archi_Bald

Jon_01 wrote: »

The Nat West acc properly isn't in your name (they don't need to be in the same name as the acc holder).

This is true although the current account is definitely not one in the name of the fraudsters because otherwise they would pay for the contract themselves.

Orange do have the sort code and account number, or the debit card number, and can make that available to Natwest. Natwest will them be able to talk to the account holder, which may well be the OP.

Jon_01

Archi_Bald wrote: »

This is true although the current account is definitely not one in the name of the fraudsters because otherwise they would pay for the contract themselves.

Orange do have the sort code and account number, or the debit card number, and can make that available to Natwest. Natwest will them be able to talk to the account holder, which may well be the OP.

This hardly ever happens (as well), they tend to be acc's have been setup using false info, ID theft or fishing.