WeBuyAnyPhone & CyberSentry

BuckinghamshireBloke

Please be aware that if you sell your mobile to WeBuyAnyPhone, the bank account details you have the money paid into will be given to CyberSentry regardless of whether you have 'opted in' to the free trial of security and anti-virus software that is part of the selling process. CyberSentry will then set up a Direct Debit on your account and start deducting a monthly subscription. The will not refund any payments either. This has been reported to the Police Action Fraud site.

It is worth noting that the directors of CyberSentry are also directors of WeBuyAnyPhone.

I have also been told by First Direct that banks do not require authorisation from the account holder when a DD has been set up, so it's worth checking on every statement for new debits.

Olinda99

cyber century may well not refund any payments but under the direct debit guarantee your bank must

Craig_White

Stay away from this company of conmen!!! I sent my phone over a week ago, after receiving a valuation of £191 in good condition.
They received it the day after and all of a sudden was only worth £130 as it has a tiny mark about a millimetre on the bottom corner. The screen is perfect as is the back and in perfect working order. So it is in my eyes in VERY GOOD condition. But I thought that I would edge on the side of caution. I had previously been offered £170 at a shop, so told them thanks but no thanks. They still have my phone and are now telling me that I have to pay to have the phone sent back to me. Surely

Dawn_E-Lord

This is exactly what happened to me! I didn’t give authority or sign a direct debit and they took money from bank account. Bank sorted it but beware.

markdennis

Same thing happened to me. at no point in the process did I have the option to opt in or out of this free trial. at no point did I authorise a direct debit mandate. and to make matters worse, they gave me a derisory offer for my phone and I had to pay to have it returned. I then sold it for fair value to Backmarket which I should have used in the first place.
@martinslewis can you pressure their corporate partners McAfee and NordVPN to stop working with these fraudsters

lesbobly13

Just today check bank statement after having an “interaction”* with WBAP - £6.95 DD on there … wife on to bank … what a con … I checked terms and conditions … it does mention cybersecurity but I couldn’t find info on opting in or out 

*as a secondary … my interaction was … offered over £180 for phone, on receipt offer revised to £30, supposedly badly damaged (£10 return fee) … so I got it back and sold it to Apple direct for £130

so all round awful experience- I do wonder where the “good” reviews come from, these should be investigated ..z

krispykreme_yum

I've just been stung by this as well - was completely unaware that my bank details would be shared with CyberSentry and a DD set up.    My bank refunded me the most recent DD as was within the DD guarantee but the three previous payments can't be refunded as apparently we 'authorise' our bank details to be shared to CyberSentry by agreeing to the WBAP T&Cs.  
To make this sting worse, my handset offer was lowballed by them and I paid to have the handset returned so never proceeded with the sale.

willowangel

Has anyone figured out how to deal with this? Just found the thread last night after seeing it come out of my account - same deal, sold a phone in December and have apparently been signed up for something I'd never sign up for.

My bank says I have to get them to cancel the DD but they've only got an email address and I've obviously not got an account I can cancel. Do they respond? Who can I report this to? 

Frozen_up_north

willowangel said:

My bank says I have to get them to cancel the DD but they've only got an email address and I've obviously not got an account I can cancel. Do they respond? Who can I report this to? 

You can cancel a direct debit yourself via on-line banking, if it is one of those continuous card payments, you can instruct the bank to not pay it.

As a general rule, I try to pay for "subscriptions" with PayPal, it is very easy to log onto the PayPal account and see if any such payments exist and to switch off auto pay.

Emanef

I've just had the same thing. I had arranged to sell my wife's iPhone to We buy any phone in Feb but phoned them to cancel it as a friend wanted to buy it. They said all fine, all cancelled, but I just went into my bank account and spotted a direct debit and a payment of £6.95 coming out at the beginning of March from this Cybersentry. 

I knew nothing about it and did not authorise it. I recall being sent an email from WBAP when I arranged the sale offering me a trial for a VPN and anti-virus but didn't need them, try them or take any notice. 

That's disgraceful practice. I've phoned my bank and got the DD cancelled and the £6.95 refunded, but how many people get done by this before they notice? How can they get away with that?! 

What's really annoying is that my bank said it's not financially viable for them to go through the dispute process, so they've just refunded me it. That means Cybersentry still get the money. I wonder how many banks do that and how much they make from it. Sounds like a clever scam to take advantage of the DD system