Fraudsters took out SIX phone contracts with O2 in my name
by HELEN CRANE, DEPUTY EDITOR, THIS IS MONEY · Mail OnlineEarlier this year I was shocked to get a message from my phone network, O2.
The messages suggested I had taken out six new mobile phone lines on my account and that six new direct debits had been set up, totalling £150 per month.
I spoke to O2 which told me someone else had fraudulently ordered new Sim cards using my account. It said it would cancel the lines and amend my credit file.
However, I continued to receive notifications relating to the accounts, including one saying 'Welcome to Pakistan' when I was at home in North East England.
I asked to leave O2 and it said I could if I paid a £38.97 fee, which I did and I am now with another provider. However, I keep getting notifications from O2, including one saying I owe £577.22. I'm also being contacted by debt collectors.
Recently, I received another notification from O2 suggesting I had taken out four new phone contracts.
I then spent 40 minutes on the phone with O2 but got nowhere and the call was terminated. Please can you help? C.C, Washington, Tyne and Wear
Helen Crane, This is Money's consumer champion, replies: It's frightening you were nearly landed with a £150 monthly bill for phone contracts you didn't take out.
You didn't know who the person who did this was, or how they got in to your account.
It's also not clear why they would want to take out so many phone contracts - though the answer is something nefarious, no doubt.
Often when scammers gain access to someone's mobile phone account, they will take out a new contract for the latest iPhone (delivered to the fraudster's address, naturally) and hope the phone is posted before they are found out.
But in your case these were Sim-only contracts, taken on two-year deals with unlimited data, costing between £20 and £25 per month.
You thought there were up to ten, but O2 later confirmed there were only four.
Perhaps they were hoping to use them abroad and let you foot the bill for their expensive roaming charges - as suggested by the 'Welcome to Pakistan' message you got relating to one of the accounts.
The thieves would doubtless be hoping that you wouldn't notice the extra charges, but instead you picked up the notifications about the new contracts right away.
These were sent to your own mobile phone because this is the contact number on your O2 account.
Once you reported the problem to O2, this should have put an end to this nasty experience - but unfortunately it has dragged on for months, causing you a lot of worry.
You paid the £38.97 fee to finish your phone contract early, but then started being bombarded with communications from O2 saying you owed more - sometimes more than £500.
CRANE ON THE CASE
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It was never made clear what these charges related to, but you suspect it was activity on the fraudulent Sims rather than any fault of yours.
You told me you are constantly checking your bank account in case O2 has taken a direct debit.
You were also frightened that your credit file would be flooded with searches thanks to all the mobile phone contracts that have been taken out, and that the £577.22 will be recorded as an unpaid debt against your name.
Reasonable concerns, when unknown criminals have gained access to an account in your name. However, these have fallen on deaf ears when it came to your contact with O2.
You have struggled to speak to O2 about this because you work 12-hour shifts as a care worker. You would call and stay on hold, but then have to get back to work before the firm picked up.
You tried the online 'virtual assistant' but found it wasn't much help, only offering generic answers to your rather complex problem.
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This was when you contacted me and I spoke to O2 to ask how this happened - and make sure the debt had really gone away.
First, O2 told me the person who defrauded you was able to pass the security checks on your account.
This means they probably had access to either your password, or to your email account so that they could set a new password.
We don't know exactly how they got hold of your information, but it is possible they hacked another account of yours - perhaps one that doesn't have such rigorous security checks - and then tried the same password again for other accounts.
This is why it's important to use strong passwords, and a different one for each website.
After it investigated your case and confirmed fraud had taken place, O2 wrote off all of the £577.22 in charges.
A spokesperson said: 'C.C became a victim of fraud after a scammer was able to pass security on her MyO2 account.
'Our team has now investigated and confirmed that fraud has taken place, acting to remove all charges and ensure no debt remains on the account, with C.C happy the matter is resolved.
'To help protect against fraud, we encourage all customers to use strong, unique passwords for each important account.'
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