Phone fraud!!

[Anonymous]

Hello all, 

Not sure if anyone else has had this issue recently but here it is....

On monday this week around 5:30pm I lost all service etc on my iphone 6..could not make any calls or receive them. I restarted and went through all the usual steps but nothing. 

I then rang 02 from a different phone and they told me I had been on live chat early in the day and requested my phone was barred as it was stolen/missing. Well that was not me and someone pretending to be me. What was worring (and I have seen a similar post on this), they knew my mothers madien name and managed to access the account. 

O2 then re-set the password and asured me all was fine and they would put a note on the system that I had rung re this. 

Then yesterday, at around the same time (5:30pm)..it all happened again! Somone used live chat & said it was me. So I rang O2 and this time they (the criminal!) had used my direct debit details to access the account as didnt know my new password. What was even more odd, O2 said instead of asking to bar my phone, they were asking to un-bar it (the oppisite to last time). 

Very worrying and just wonder if anyone else has had this. O2 have now put a note on system saying no live chat allowed but who knows. 

thanks

Ben 

[Cleoriff]

The first thing that comes to mind is this is someone you know. I can't see how they would have known all those personal details about you and your account....?

Incidentally you can change your personal and security details online http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=Companion,question=ref%28User%29:str%28Mob...

[Bambino]

Has to be someone the OP knows. 

[jonsie]

Very similar circumstances to the problem here :

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/Blacklisted-phone-due-to-fraude-on-my-account-im...

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly how this happens and where the information comes from but easy to list possibilities.

You've done all you can with regards to O2 but you need a good strong password as well. If they have your bank details then you need to check on that account. Again, change passwords or get your account number changed.

Extra vigilance is the only real advice.

[MI5]

Very worrying as you say.
Hope you can find the culprit.

[Curr946]

This is madness... And scary. I wonder how wide spread this issue really is.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for your replies. Had a further 2 issues with this after 02 said it was all sorted. Turns out it is linked to banking fraud and have just come off phone with bank as all my accounts we compromised. If you get any odd activity (esp suddenly getting no service etc) then contact the 02 fraud team straight away. It had to happen to me 3 times before 02 suggested going through to their speicalist team. Very odd and if you ask the fraud team, they say its happening more and more whereas the customer service team said they have never seen it! 

[jonsie]

A search on the community will show that this is far from an isolated instance despite denials from customer service who will always quote the company stance on fraud issues.