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Replace mobile number on O2 after banking impersonation scam?

ic
ic Posts: 3,443 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper

My mother in law has been the victim of a banking impersonation scam, with crooks managing to gain access to her bank account and stealing half her cash before fraud detection kicked in and blocked any more attempts.  Mercifully it sounds like the bank will be returning what has been lost.

We're now very conscious that her current pay monthly O2 mobile number is known as vulnerable, with all her details attached - so we fear she'll be targeted again in the future.

Is it possible for us to port in from another network to the same account for a second time?  We'd like to set up a new number with another network, then port it in after a month replacing the existing vulnerable number.  Otherwise, can O2 simply replace the existing number, or help in the switcher-er-oo between old and new numbers without the need to cancel accounts?  Her existing contract is only a couple of months old so we don't want to be cancelling it or running an additional account in parallel.

Comments

  • flaneurs_lobster
    flaneurs_lobster Posts: 6,764 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Yes you can PAC into an account 2 or more times. 

    Might be worth asking O2 if they have a procedure for issuing a new number to an existing contract - can't be the first time this has been asked/happened.

    Would save you the hassle (and £) of activating an unwanted SIM.
  • ic
    ic Posts: 3,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thanks - that's good to hear.  I'm just thinking of getting a lebara sim for a few pound a month, then transferring in - it'd just give us a period to update numbers against the myriad of accounts, companies and people before losing the old for good.
  • Frozen_up_north
    Frozen_up_north Posts: 2,854 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I would speak to O2, they will have had similar situations like this before and should be able to change the number without much trouble.
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