Solarplicity debt collection - - SCAM??

Marty7

Perhaps a group of us should visit their flat!?   

X8joe

I have received a email from ABD Recovery , and I have reported it at actionfraud.police.uk and received a email saying it is being reviewed by  National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) .

Thank you OP and everyone else here as otherwise I would have paid this as far as I can remember I joined Northumbria Energy at the same time they went into administration. I was transferred automatically to the new Supplier . 

No one has ever been in touch if I owed anything ,this is the first I have heard of it .

ADPE

I was a customer of Future Energy who went into Administration in 2018.
CDS were appointed to act for the administrators on debt recovery, and were a pain to deal with.

I have this week received the same claim letter from ABD Debt Recovery, and have forwarded same to the phishing hot line.

I couldn't see how you report it as a crime and obtain a crime number, from the options on the fraud website. Perhaps someone can help?

I do intend to follow up with IOC as CDS seem to be the common link.   

ClareJoBo

Well, this has grown arms and legs.

I have reported to Action Fraud - spoke to someone in person. Did not get a crime number though. Forwarded the email to the requested email address.

Have also logged a complaint with the ICO, with BSB, and my MP. Lets hope that some action is taken.

mazzamacc

Just an update - I've reported it as a phishing scam but couldn't find how to report it in order to get a crime number as according to the Action Fraud website (as ZackMSE  found) no crime had been committed.  I did email the company who took over CDS using the template MAN_UK suggested  and got a very prompt (they obviously have them sitting there ready to go) impersonal response. No hint that any data breach has been committed. This is probably what you'll get from BSB if you do the same:  

Good morning,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Barratt Smith Brown (formally CDS Global) are the nominated collections agents for Begbies Traynor who are the administrators for Brilliant Energy. We have previously engaged with the former customers of Brilliant Energy to finalise any outstanding balances that remained as we are the sole agents dealing with the administration.

 

We have been made aware that another agency has contacted a number of account holders who had already settled their outstanding balances. We are working with the administrators to ascertain how this issue has arisen and we will update yourself and all affected parties upon the conclusion of our investigation. 

 

Please ignore any communications set from any other company regarding Brilliant Energy.

 

If you would like more information about us or our involvement please do not hesitate to contact our offices.

 

 

Kind Regards, 

 

Collections Team

 

Barratt Smith And Brown 

wincler

I received the same ABD email and called the 101 police line to report criminal activity.
It has been passed to Greater Manchester Police to investigate.
The call handler suggested everyone should do the same.

MAN_UK

mazzamacc said:

Just an update - I've reported it as a phishing scam but couldn't find how to report it in order to get a crime number as according to the Action Fraud website (as ZackMSE  found) no crime had been committed.  I did email the company who took over CDS using the template MAN_UK suggested  and got a very prompt (they obviously have them sitting there ready to go) impersonal response. No hint that any data breach has been committed. This is probably what you'll get from BSB if you do the same:  

Good morning,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Barratt Smith Brown (formally CDS Global) are the nominated collections agents for Begbies Traynor who are the administrators for Brilliant Energy. We have previously engaged with the former customers of Brilliant Energy to finalise any outstanding balances that remained as we are the sole agents dealing with the administration.

 

We have been made aware that another agency has contacted a number of account holders who had already settled their outstanding balances. We are working with the administrators to ascertain how this issue has arisen and we will update yourself and all affected parties upon the conclusion of our investigation. 

 

Please ignore any communications set from any other company regarding Brilliant Energy.

 

If you would like more information about us or our involvement please do not hesitate to contact our offices.

 

 

Kind Regards, 

 

Collections Team

 

Barratt Smith And Brown 

Hi yes agreed given the 4 failed utility company customer databases that CDS/BSB are data handlers for, the omission of acknowledgment is worrying to say the least as the email response portrays this as someone else who is doing this whilst ignoring to address the key point of how on earth people's personal information has been compromised and the scammers managed to get hold of the personal data in the first place.

BTW BSB sent an email to me back in Nov 2021 outlining the same as what you have published (except it was re Solarplicity) which I did not think much of at the time. So seems they have known about this atleast since Nov 2021 and the scam probably has been going on longer than that

The main issue of focus here though is as part of the complaint procedure to the ICO to report the data breach which is the key outcome the question is posed during the workflow to confirm “has the concern been reported to the company” which if a no response is selected then the complaint process cannot be taken forward until it has been

I suppose the frustration here is sheer lack of acknowledgment by any entity that there has been a data breach and the scale and scope of the breach whilst people's personal data being propagated in the wild without knowing whats is being done about it

Debra74

Hi I've also had an email from ABD recovery for a historic debt but to FUTURE energy who went bust early 2018. Likewise they knew the correct amount owed and offered me a reduced amount of £167 if I paid in the next 5 days. I had paid off my account April 2021. I suspected scam and forwarded the email to;
report@phishing.gov.uk
but thank you for confirming that it's a scam, although I did reply to the dodgy email to say I wasn't going to pay!!!! oops. 

Blubel

I've had an email from ABD recovery for a Brilliant energy debt that was settled a year ago.    I didn't reply, I emailed Ofcom who haven't replied, searched companies house and saw only a dormant company on there and I have also sent a phishing notification to the Online Fraud people.  I do want to report the data theft from it would appear the company that took over CDM so will action that this weekend.  This data breach needs to get some airtime and the emails become commonly known as fraudulent. 

Kiwi_guy

MAN_UK said:

ok have contacted the ICO regarding the personally identifiable data breach contained in the scam email that myself along with others on here have received

Briefly by way of convenience for any new poster whose personally identifiable data is compromised in the scam email that they have received  

1: inform Police Action Fraud and get a crime number www .actionfraud.police.uk

2: according to the ICO guidance the concern needs to be formally registered with the organisation Barratt Smith & Brown (BSB) (the data handler) to give them the opportunity to investigate and respond

Note: the actual legal entity that was the data handler was CDS Global which was acquired by BSB

See links below for advice and guidance including sample template that containing the information that should be included in the registration for concern to BSB in the way personally identifiable (PI) data has been handled

Probably pertinent to include the fact the common denominator for the customer database breach of the three failed energy companies (Solarplicity, Northumbria Energy, Brilliant Energy) so far is the collection agency BSB (previously CDS global) appointed by different administrators.

3: raise a complaint to the ICO using the second link below outlining your concern for your own personally identifiable data and the risk of future nefarious use of this data in any future potential misdeeds such is identify fraud

ICO links

ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/raising-concerns/

ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your-personal-information-concerns/

I was also with Brilliant energy and have received the infamous ABD RECOVERY email. Just a short note to say thank you for describing the process, it was very useful. I have raised a report with Police Action Fraud and emailed BSB with the Raising Concerns Template. Next stop is the ICO complaint process!