Phone smart / plan.com phone contract scam

Phonepartner

Hi there,

my partner received a call on Thursday from someone claiming to be from o2 asking them if they wanted to upgrade their phone contract. 

My partner suspicious but the caller managed to convince them they were from o2 and since my partner was near the end of their contract they gave them their PAC code, name, DoB and bank account number and sort code.

My partner realised what had happened immediately after the call and contacted o2’s fraud team to report it and their bank. They’ve also contacted plan.com who the contract was actually with to say they didn’t want the contract. I’d never heard of plan.con but they’re described on o2’s website as a ‘trusted partner’ and seem to frequently scam people with business phone contracts - my partner doesn’t run their own business and the caller didn’t mention it was a business contract either.

plan.com emailed yesterday saying the company that sold the contract was called ‘phone smart’, something my partner again wasn’t aware of, and plan.com said my partner would need to contact them to cancel the contract and pay some sort of fee for cancellation.

My partner has gone back to o2 to update them, has contacted action fraud, OFCOM and also Trading Standards. Is there anything else they should be doing and has anyone had any experience of this before? I’m worried it’s going to be very difficult to rectify when my partner has been a victim of fraud.

km1500

is plan.com a trusted partner of O2 - can you confirm ? In any case, they are a genuine company.

I assume your partner was given the amount of data, number of months and monthly cost for the plan? Did they think it was a good deal when they accepted - presumably so. So why do they want to cancel and why do you think.it's a scam ?

however, if they do want to cancel this is how

https://help.plan.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360007945038-How-do-I-cancel-my-contract-

savergrant

The bit I don't understand is the partner gave them a pac. Op doesn't say which network partner was leaving, but if they were with o2 already why give 'o2' the pac?

born_again

So OP applied to 02 for a PAC & passed it to the new co?

Phonepartner

savergrant said:

The bit I don't understand is the partner gave them a pac. Op doesn't say which network partner was leaving, but if they were with o2 already why give 'o2' the pac?

My partner was with o2, the person called them and said they were from o2 (which was not true) and calling about my partner’s contract renewal. My partner’s contract was coming to an end soon so they thought it was someone from o2. They gave them the PAC code because they didn’t realise they shouldn’t do this and had a lapse in judgment.

The person did not explain what my partner was signing up for in terms of minutes, costs, etc. while plan.com may be a real company, they sold my partner a phone contract through deceptive means. 

Phonepartner

born_again said:

So OP applied to 02 for a PAC & passed it to the new co?

Yeah they did

savergrant

Did phone smart ask your partner to request a pac? Was this all done in one phone call? What information was given before the pac and bank details were handed over?
Tbh buying from a cold caller is always risky 

Phonepartner

savergrant said:

Did phone smart ask your partner to request a pac? Was this all done in one phone call? What information was given before the pac and bank details were handed over?
Tbh buying from a cold caller is always risky 

phone smart called my partner but said they were calling from o2 and didn’t mention phone smart at all. The person said they were calling about my partner’s phone upgrade, they asked my partner to confirm their name, date of birth and address. 

They kept telling my partner they were going to send them a new phone, being very pushy when my partner was suspicious but my partner did say they would talk to them about renewing their current contact with o2. 

The person on the phone said they were going to send a code through to my partner’s phone and to give it to them, which my partner did. 

After this my partner rang o2 who said this was a scam and they would look into it.

I want to know if anyone here has experienced this and has advice on who to speak to apart from trading standards, OFCOM, O2 and the bank.

savergrant

Unless it was just unfortunate timing I would suspect that o2 have provided their 'trusted partner' with a list of expiring contracts and they may have passed that on. If the 'new deal' is still with o2 you wouldn't get a pac, and the only reason one should come through to your phone is if it has been requested by a text from that phone or a request through the user's online account or app. Just to be clear a oac is 9 digits, Three letters (I believe TEL for o2) then six numbers. If it was a pac then the existing service will terminate and the number will transfer to a new sim. If not the existing contract may continue, meaning your partner will be charged for two mobile services.

PHK

I don't think this was a PAC, when O2 make account changes they send a code to the phone which is part of the way of determining if the person is the cardholder.
It sounds to me like the OPs partner should have just hung up.

oldagetraveller1

I received a similar call some weeks ago "from O2" as a customer, I am not, strung him along for a good 10 minutes. Yes, too much time  on my hands but he isn't conning anyone else for 10 minutes.

I asked for his name, "Peter Parker." Now bored I said "Are you a nosey Parker? Click.