O2 - Victim of Fraud and no help!

1715

I was a victim of fraud on my o2 account on 16 Jan. The fraudster gained access to my account while purporting to be calling from o2 and took out a new contract with handset, I grew suspicious on the call and ended it and reported it to o2 the same day. Unfortunately the phone had already been ordered and the new contract put in place. I have called o2 weekly and have also emailed to rectify this and am told on each occasion that the fraud team will call me. No one has!! Meantime I have been getting more and more anxious and have received a default notice!!! I am very concerned about the effect of this on my credit rating which is excellent. I really struggle to understand why it is taking o2 12 weeks for their fraud team to call me or give me any form of support or assurances.  Has anyone experienced similar or can input at all? 

Neil_Jones

1715 said:

I was a victim of fraud on my o2 account on 16 Jan. The fraudster gained access to my account while purporting to be calling from o2 and took out a new contract with handset, I grew suspicious on the call and ended it and reported it to o2 the same day. Unfortunately the phone had already been ordered and the new contract put in place. I have called o2 weekly and have also emailed to rectify this and am told on each occasion that the fraud team will call me. No one has!! Meantime I have been getting more and more anxious and have received a default notice!!! I am very concerned about the effect of this on my credit rating which is excellent. I really struggle to understand why it is taking o2 12 weeks for their fraud team to call me or give me any form of support or assurances.  Has anyone experienced similar or can input at all? 

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/safety-and-security/fraud-advice - " If someone calls you claiming to be from O2, make sure you check who they are by asking where they’re calling from. Remember, we’d never call you and ask for one-time passcodes, passwords, PINs or personal information like your bank details."

Perhaps you shouldn't have entered into any correspondence in the first place.

PHK

Also, any companies fraud team need to establish who is the genuine person and how the fraud happened. 

Also, the text message before the PIN is sent for an upgrade etc specifically says not to give it to anyone over the phone. 

In your situation, I would concentrate on securing your online accounts, running a digital security health check to make sure this doesn't happen again. 

saajan_12

Could you not cancel the order if you found out in the same day? Even under the 14 day distance selling, to limit your losses?

saajan_12

Neil_Jones said:

1715 said:

I was a victim of fraud on my o2 account on 16 Jan. The fraudster gained access to my account while purporting to be calling from o2 and took out a new contract with handset, I grew suspicious on the call and ended it and reported it to o2 the same day. Unfortunately the phone had already been ordered and the new contract put in place. I have called o2 weekly and have also emailed to rectify this and am told on each occasion that the fraud team will call me. No one has!! Meantime I have been getting more and more anxious and have received a default notice!!! I am very concerned about the effect of this on my credit rating which is excellent. I really struggle to understand why it is taking o2 12 weeks for their fraud team to call me or give me any form of support or assurances.  Has anyone experienced similar or can input at all? 

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/safety-and-security/fraud-advice - " If someone calls you claiming to be from O2, make sure you check who they are by asking where they’re calling from. Remember, we’d never call you and ask for one-time passcodes, passwords, PINs or personal information like your bank details."

Perhaps you shouldn't have entered into any correspondence in the first place.

To be fair this isn't the most helpful.

Customer: "Where are you calling from?"
Fraudster: "From O2" 

Agree on the warnings about what info they wouldn't ask for, but they could also suggest other ways such as checking for a list of legit phone numbers or email domains. 

flaneurs_lobster

When you request online access to your O2 account, O2 will send an access code by SMS to the registered SIM's phone. It's this code that the fraudsters need to access the account, they pretend that they need this code to prove somethingoranother about the account.

When O2 send this code it is always preceded by another SMS which explicitly says that if a third party is asking for the code then it's a scam. 

Seems pretty tight to me, although the scammers know all this and have presumably come up with a plausible story as to why this warning can be ignored.

savergrant

You say you grew suspicious and ended the call and reported it to o2 "the same day". How long after growing suspicious did you contact o2. And how did you contact them?
For me there are two avenues here, how did the scammer have access to information about your contract? And did o2 act appropriately when you contacted them with your suspicions? If however they sent out a new phone having completed all the relevant security checks and were satisfied that you were authorising payment they can't be expected to lose the value of the phone because of your mistake.
You say they gained access to your account, did you facilitate them getting access to your account?

HaroldWhistler

saajan_12 said:

Could you not cancel the order if you found out in the same day? Even under the 14 day distance selling, to limit your losses?

@1715

This. The bottom line is you should cancel this as soon as possible - on the same day even. There have been similar cases of this reported online in the media. It is still questionable how the Fraudsters have access to certain information pertaining to O2 customers meaning they must have people on the inside, or else there is a data leak within O2.

The Fraudsters (usually from India when they ring) are using the "Forgot your password" code to access an account as mentioned by flaneurs_lobster. The thing they lack is your phone, so they try to pretend to be O2 to get it. That is Stage 1. They then try to Collect the phone by ringing the victim claiming there was an error in the contract and sending a "Returns" bag to an address which isn't O2. That is Stage 2. So they make off with a phone and lumber the victim with a contract, debt collection and credit rating problems. Or there have been reports of these vermin having co-conspirators in delivery companies to try and intercept a package on the doorstep etc. Ultimately these scammers are low lives and O2 don't seem to have any additional security checks to confirm you want to set up a brand new direct debit once someone is within the online account. Which is ironic because if you have more than one active line with them, then trying to cancel or adjust something/anything usually requires jumping through multiple hoops and departments.


One can beat the fraudsters by not falling for the scam at Stage 1 in the first place, or at least prevent Stage 2 by ignoring/wasting the fraudster's time on the phone if they call you again and not fall for the attempt by them (they will want to send their own Returns package to the address). Ultimately, no bank nor phone company will ask you for certain details over the phone. A code should only really be given by yourself to a representative if YOU yourself rang the official number of said company. If someone rings you, it is up to them to prove who that person is, not the other way around.

The O2 Fraud team according to media reports are generally completely lethargic and extremely slow to respond which takes you over the 14 day return window. Which leads to a lot of having to clean up a further mess of having to now get major refunds and avoid credit files being affected. Perhaps because a new contract is a revenue stream for them, so the scammer gets a phone, and whether it is you or a scammer setting up a new contract, O2 also gets some money. Whereas if O2 also lost something, they'd have a greater sense of urgency. 

If a customer is just beyond Stage 1 and the Vermin got access to an account, the best approach would be:

1. Firstly RE-SECURE your account. As in change your password by going to My O2 and reset it using your phone to receive an automated message (this time it is YOU the customer doing it). That way the Fraudsters have ZERO access to your account anymore. 
This avoids the criminals from being able to arrange SIM swaps or start ordering anything more or changing your registered address. 
2. Ring O2. Now if you reported it as Fraud, then technically they may suspend an order or lock an account. However, if the order already went through and the phone is already on its way (which is likely) then you can technically wait for their callback, but this is likely to then suffer from their inefficiency. Which is why I'd do what saran_12 said and

3. CANCEL the new contract that was ordered. This way you are well within the 14 day Returns window. Any money therefore will be refunded in your next bill and the contract cancelled. 
4. When the O2 Returns bag comes, then ring O2 and confirm the address on the Returns bag is indeed O2. Then send the new phone back. 
5. Doing that means you secured your account and get the money back. Whereas waiting on the Fraud team creates a mess of having to wait on them, wait on their slow inefficient process, then deal with a Returns process and getting refunds and cancelling a contract that was fraudulently set up and all of this long after the 14 day window which takes you out of the Consumer Rights of Return period.

If you are beyond the 14 day window, then the resolution will sadly have to be with the Fraud team, but you have to end up paying the contract to avoid the credit file getting affected until they get their act together. Which is why the Cancellation method is usually the best way to just get things done. If you did report this to the O2 Fraud team, then ring them continuously and write down reference numbers and I guess you have to escalate to a full Complaint if they haven't gotten back to you in the 3 days (as per media reports) they say they will get in touch with you in. As mentioned by Savergrant, in that case you will have to argue the case of O2 acting too slow despite you raising the alarm. At least the vermin scammers didn't get the phone.  

savergrant

My understanding is that in cases like this the fraudsters will update the delivery address so they receive the phone direct from the provider. Perhaps op can confirm what actually happened to the new handset o2 despatched?

HaroldWhistler

savergrant said:

My understanding is that in cases like this the fraudsters will update the delivery address so they receive the phone direct from the provider. Perhaps op can confirm what actually happened to the new handset o2 despatched?

Yes they apparently can try that as well. It is vital to re-secure your O2 account as soon as possible with a new password and double check the address information etc is correct within the account.