Fraud Comcern

danhenshy23

Hi,

Two weeks ago my wife received a text message from who she thought was PayPal, however turned out to be a hoax. The message said that due to suspicious activity, her account had been restricted and she needed to follow a link and enter some details in order to return her account to normal, which she did :mad:

A few days later we received a message from the bank saying someone had attempted to take a large sum of money out of her account. We immediately phoned the bank and cancelled her debit card, which we thought was the end of it.

Since the following has happened:

- email and password was changed for Next account. We have since contacted Next who have closed the acckunt and re-opened a new one.

- received parcel containing two items of clothing from H&M, which she hasn't ordered or paid for. (The invoice contains an email address for a different person)

- today she received a letter supposedly from Argos, stating that a store card had attempted to be opened in her name. We called the number on the letter to query this, however the person started asking for information which made me nervous of their legitimacy, so we ended the call. During the call however they did read out my wife's sort code and account number, which were correct.

Following the phone call with "Argos" this evening we have contacted the bank again, however the fraud department we need to speak with is closed until Monday.

I am keen to see if anyone has any advice on what she can do next to prevent any further issues.
Although no money has been taken from her account, it would appear someone is trying to open various store cards in her name which will be damaging her credit score.
They also have various personal details such as our home address, my wife's email address and bank account details.

At the minute it feels like we are waiting for the next message/letter linked for the fradulant activity, so any advice on what we can do to get ahead of it and stop it from happening would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Dan

Ed-1

danhenshy23 wrote: »

Hi,

Two weeks ago my wife received a text message from who she thought was PayPal, however turned out to be a hoax. The message said that due to suspicious activity, her account had been restricted and she needed to follow a link and enter some details in order to return her account to normal, which she did :mad:

A few days later we received a message from the bank saying someone had attempted to take a large sum of money out of her account. We immediately phoned the bank and cancelled her debit card, which we thought was the end of it.

Since the following has happened:

- email and password was changed for Next account. We have since contacted Next who have closed the acckunt and re-opened a new one.

- received parcel containing two items of clothing from H&M, which she hasn't ordered or paid for. (The invoice contains an email address for a different person)

- today she received a letter supposedly from Argos, stating that a store card had attempted to be opened in her name. We called the number on the letter to query this, however the person started asking for information which made me nervous of their legitimacy, so we ended the call. During the call however they did read out my wife's sort code and account number, which were correct.

Following the phone call with "Argos" this evening we have contacted the bank again, however the fraud department we need to speak with is closed until Monday.

I am keen to see if anyone has any advice on what she can do next to prevent any further issues.
Although no money has been taken from her account, it would appear someone is trying to open various store cards in her name which will be damaging her credit score.
They also have various personal details such as our home address, my wife's email address and bank account details.

At the minute it feels like we are waiting for the next message/letter linked for the fradulant activity, so any advice on what we can do to get ahead of it and stop it from happening would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Dan

https://www.cifas.org.uk/services/identity-protection/protective-registration

Kim_13

In addition to taking out CIFAS protective registration, I would also change the passwords on her other accounts, especially if she only uses one or two passwords for everything.

You might find this article useful: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/password-security

dj1471

If other online accounts have been accessed then she's used her PayPal password for multiple sites and needs to change these passwords ASAP.

If she has also used the same password for her e-mail account then potentially every account associated with that e-mail address is compromised and needs to be secured.

Shakin_Steve

dj1471 wrote: »

If other online accounts have been accessed then she's used her PayPal password for multiple sites and needs to change these passwords ASAP.

If she has also used the same password for her e-mail account then potentially every account associated with that e-mail address is compromised and needs to be secured.

Change them quickly, before someone changes them for you.

colsten

Make sure her virus protection software is up-to-date and running; run a Malware scan, using Malwarebytes. Never again click on links in emails unless she knows they are not dangerous. Potentially change email address, too, and definitely change passwords after having run Malwarebytes.

danhenshy23

Thanks all for the advice.

We have created a new email address and are in the process of changing passwords on all of my wife's account, not an easy task as there's just so many of them!

The conversation with "Argos" is still niggling at me as they read back my wife's correct account number and sort code. Would there be any value in requesting new accou t's from the bank, or is there little threat with these details?

We have checked her credit score which is still very good, however we will keep an eye on this. Is there an appeal process if her credit scores starts to be impacted by the fraudulent activity?

Thanks
Dan

badger09

danhenshy23 wrote: »

Thanks all for the advice.

We have created a new email address and are in the process of changing passwords on all of my wife's account, not an easy task as there's just so many of them!

The conversation with "Argos" is still niggling at me as they read back my wife's correct account number and sort code. Would there be any value in requesting new accou t's from the bank, or is there little threat with these details?

We have checked her credit score which is still very good, however we will keep an eye on this. Is there an appeal process if her credit scores starts to be impacted by the fraudulent activity?

Thanks
Dan

Forget credit score, its a made up number.

Your wife needs to access her credit reports from all 3 CRAs. They will show whether any further applications for credit have been made in your wife's name.

As far as her bank account number is concerned, it is clearly shown on any cheques she writes (though I know cheques are becoming increasingly rare) so not an issue in itself.