Notice of disconnection and debt collection from O2 but I don't have an account with them

oellph

I've had a letter from O2 stating notice of disconnection and unpaid bill of £32. It has my name and address and an account number but no mention of mobile number. I don't have an account with O2. My first thought was that it was a scam, so I didn't use the numbers quoted on the letter. Trying to get through to someone on their maze of telephone options is all but impossible but I did eventually get through to someone who tried looking into the account number, quoted three mobile numbers to send a verification sms but all three were unknown to me. Quoted an email address that was also unknown to me. Got through to someone who took a few more details to log a fraud ticket.

Other than that, what else should I do? I don't want some debt agency calling because even though I feel the burden of proof is on O2 or someone else, I know how these things play out.

smudge56

Did you have an account with Virgin mobile?  Virgin mobile is now O2

oellph

Nope. I've been on EE for years and have kept the same number over that time.

marcia_

oellph said:

Nope. I've been on EE for years and have kept the same number over that time.

 You need to check your credit file to see if there are any fraudulent accounts there. 

Brie

Check your credit file and warn your banks that you may have had a data breach and you need to be warned if there are any odd payments.

Keep rechecking your credit file over the next year to stay safe.  Do it via a free site not one of the "pay to see your credit score ones" as they are not worth the money in any sense.

oellph

Wow, thanks guys. Just done that with Experian and found this! (Which I have no knowledge of and looking over my bank statements, no mention or connection to any transaction).

Jon_01

Get on the O2 and ask for the matter to be referred to the fraud dept (I believe they're not 'customer facing' and can only deal with frontline). They'll run an investigation and sort it out.    I had the same thing happen many years ago, they were very good back then...

Fluff_meister

I have had exactly the same issue. I'm not an O2 customer, but I received a "notice of disconnection" from O2 with an account number on it and a demand for a payment of £33.70. When I phoned them (that was quite the ordeal!) I was told that it was probably fraud, and their "fraud department" would contact me with 48 hours. That was over 2 weeks ago. After a few days I wrote to them (by old-fashioned post) and got no reply. I phoned again a couple of days ago and the person I spoke to confirmed the account number on this mysterious unitemised demand didn't match my phone number (my mobile number is with EE), and that I should phone their "fraud department". The "fraud department" turned out to be the phone number for Police Action Fraud, nothing to do with O2. Needless to say, when I reported it to them I got a reply saying it wasn't a police matter.

To add insult to injury, I then received a letter from a debt collection agency, demanding payment of £85.08. So clearly, even though O2 had told me the original letter was a fraud and someone would contact me, they still instructed the debt collection agency to take action. The agency were very helpful when I phoned, are investigating, and put my case on hold until 3 August.

I then sent an email to O2 complaints department - and received an utterly bizarre response saying that they had tried to contact me (they hadn't) but that I "hadn't raised the complaint correctly" as they didn't have sufficient information, "this is due to a system migration and an updated way of raising complaints" and can't connect my complaint to an account as I didn't give them enough information, such as my email address. Bizarre, because they EMAILED me to say they didn't have my email address! Clearly, I can't provide any information about my account as I don't have an account.

Jon_01

Fluff_meister said:

I have had exactly the same issue. I'm not an O2 customer, but I received a "notice of disconnection" from O2 with an account number on it and a demand for a payment of £33.70. When I phoned them (that was quite the ordeal!) I was told that it was probably fraud, and their "fraud department" would contact me with 48 hours. That was over 2 weeks ago. After a few days I wrote to them (by old-fashioned post) and got no reply. I phoned again a couple of days ago and the person I spoke to confirmed the account number on this mysterious unitemised demand didn't match my phone number (my mobile number is with EE), and that I should phone their "fraud department". The "fraud department" turned out to be the phone number for Police Action Fraud, nothing to do with O2. Needless to say, when I reported it to them I got a reply saying it wasn't a police matter.

As far as I'm aware, the fraud dept isn't 'customer facing', so you're unlikely to get a call from them.  This is usually due to the front line agents not being trained in fraud.  They just assume that every dept will call customers. (I worked as a fraud investigator for one of the other networks).

Once front line has passed the info to them, they should look into it and put a hold on any action.  If that hasn't happened, then contact their exec office.

Not sure why Action Fraud told you that???  They should have logged it and given advice about ID theft?