**URGENT ACTION NEEDED* - VICTIM OF FRAUD

[Anonymous]

**URGENT ACTION NEEDED** - VICTIM OF FRAUD

Dear O2,

I have been a victim of fraud on my O2 account.

On Sunday 2nd July 2023, I received a call from an unknown number asking if had recently placed an order for an iPhone 14 Pro Max on a 3-year contract. The lady on the phone said they had noticed suspicious activity on the account (hence the call) as the delivery address for the order was in Bilston, whilst the correct address on my account is in Stourbridge. 

I told the lady that I didn't place such an order and she re-assured me that she would have everything cancelled. She sent me a 6-digit OTP on my number above which she asked me to read back. As she had all my details, I assumed it was a genuine call from o2 and I (regrettably) read back the OTP to her, however I believe this was a fraudulent call, and the lady simply asked for the OTP to place the order on my account. 

I can now see that my account has been updated with a new tariff for an iPhone 14 Pro Max on a 3-year contract. I have received continuous emails from o2 since, acknowledging the order etc. A tracking number was also provided which I checked on the DPD website and it appears the iPhone was delivered to the fraudulent address yesterday morning. 

I am in deep distress about this as I never placed this order and I now find myself owing £1,881.00 for a phone I never ordered. I am currently in the process of buying my first home, and really don't want my credit score to be affected by a bogus credit agreement. I have called o2 several times and they have advised that the incident has been reported to the fraud team and that I should get a response within 48 hours, however having looked through the o2 forums, I have noticed other people, who have also been victims to similar fraudulent activities on their accounts, have had to wait for weeks and months for their matters to be resolved. I have also emailed the fraud team to explain the same but am waiting to hear back.

To protect myself, and as suggested by one of your colleagues, I have cancelled my direct debit to avoid making any further payments until the matter has been looked at.

Can I please ask for this to be considered urgently?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

Hammad

[TJC86]

Thanks for this @Oxonian

We emailed the complaints address about 6 weeks ago but have had no response (as per usual).

I wasn’t aware of resolver though so that is something we will try 👍🏻

I appreciate things can take time but the fact that they have forwarded it to a debt collector when it has been registered as fraud is hard to swallow and is causing us unnecessary stress especially when they do not follow through with any promises they make on the phone

[Oxonian]

@TJC86 

Yes, the premature referrals to debt collectors have been discussed on this forum previously. I assume that the O2 corporate view is that it is your debt until they establish or agree otherwise. But that's of no help to you. 

Please keep this thread updated with developments.  

[wolfheart]

Hi, I still don't have a solution. They do not respond to complaints or phone calls. I have had an open case with the Ombudsman from 2-3 weeks, yesterday I opened with Resolver, I had an unfriendly conversation with Lowell debt collection, and the lady from the Ombudsman told me to file a complaint to the ICO. On another forum I found that someone sent a message to Watchdog, I did the same and I recommend doing the same, maybe someone will be interested in what is wrong with o2 and why so many people have problems with data theft and buy phones easily.

[TJC86]

Thanks for the update @wolfheart and sorry to hear that you still don’t have a resolution.

We will be opening a case with resolver in due course.

What are the contact details you used for watchdog?

[wolfheart]

Hi, I found this email address 

Watchdog.Consumer.Programme@bbc.co.uk

[TJC86]

Thank you.

If you could keep me updated with any progress you make I would appreciate it and I’ll do the same 👍🏻

[Keithok]

URGENT ACTION NEEDED  VICTIM OF FRAUD

Keithok

Scammed and Fraudulent order by O2 or Others

An order has been fraudulently placed to my O2 account by others from O2 Shop for an iPhone and sim card @ £1504.80 by credit agreement.

I have no knowledge of this order.

I am a frail elderly 75 year old hard of hearing pensioner who was contacted by an O2 representatives offering a reduction in the cost my monthly sim only contract as I also had internet contract with O2 and Virgin Media  

I was also offered something that sounded like a ‘Volt’ free offer, again because I have an O2 phone contract and an internet contract with Virgin Media I could choose in a few days when the tariff reduction was confirmed.

I failed to comprehend what all this was about because the two O2 representatives had such strong foreign accents and with my poor hearing I asked for the information to be e-mailed to me so I could fully understand what the offer was about. They did not.

A few minutes later received a series of eight e-mails one after the other talking about pre-contract details, contracts, various legal documents, loan agreements, terms and conditions and order documents for a hugely expensive iPhone and sim package. Also, txt messages confirming an order had been made and accepted.

This came as a huge shock to me as I have no idea someone from O2 or others could have had access to my account to scam this fraudulent order.

I see it now in my O2 app and that DPD will deliver this phone to my address on the 2nd of January.

I am absolutely distraught that O2 could do this to a customer and for such a huge amount of money to a known elderly pensioner as I had explained.

I contacted O2 spoke to a representative who confirmed an order had been placed on my account and a member pf their fraud team will investigate, take about a month he said. In the meantime, he instructed me to cancel my DD with my bank until further notice from O2, and to keep an eye out for any more DDs place by these others. He also told me to call O2 when the package is delivered and O2 will send a return bag for the phone.

I spoke to my bank’s fraud rep and detailed the situation. He said cancelling the DD was the correct thing to do to stop finances getting out of hand and confirmed the cancellation of DD to O2. He also warned me to thoroughly check the return address with O2 as there is a strong possibility it could be part of the fraudsters plan to steal the phone by misdirecting the return of the phone.

Another possibility as the fraudsters know my address, the delivery company, date and time within an hour, they could try to intercept the delivery.

Yet another possibility is that the fraudsters are actually O2 Shop personnel, so easy to implement this fraud, either to raise sale figures or to steel very expensive iPhones. They could even put a dummy in the delivery package and already have stolen the phone.

Just some thoughts we discussed.

As the O2 representative told me that O2  was aware of this particular fraud they should be quicker off the mark to seal their leaking system of customer data and perhaps look at their own personnel.

We will see Keithok

[jonsie]

Sad to say you have definitely been the victim of a scam

Did you reveal the OTP sent to your phone while you were on the call with the scammers?

I must strongly advise you to call 202 to check the return address

More than likely the scammers will either call you or expect you to call the number you were originally contacted on and tell you that there has been a mistake and will want you to return the phone to a fake address

Please hang up any call made to you and call 202 to report it

Await the jiffy bag from O2 to return the phone

Also change your O2 password if you haven't already done so

[Davi_3]

Hammad,

I to have experienced almost a mirrored fraudulent claim on my account.  Which began April 2023 from a call from O2 I still believe it was from an O2 employer as they had my personal details also prompting me as do O2 security.  I contacted O2 and reported fraud the next day explained what had happened i was reassured it would be resolved. since then I was advised to stop my bank paying into the fraudulent phone account and O2 refunded charges for the mega iPhone 14 Max.  I have been reassured  on a monthly basis that the fraudulent claim would resold through escalation to fraud team, that would be contacted by the fraud team within24 hrs,  I visited my local O2 store at an expense to myself spent much of the afternoon waiting for the manager to contact the appropriate O2 service.   Feeling some satisfaction that finally I had resolved this nightmare only for it to continue.  I have recorded as best I can all contacts with dates and reassurances, collated letters from O2 ( notice of disconnection) , I have emails from O2 treasuring me that finally they resolved the situation.

It is now 15/07/2024 I'm still contacting O2 on a monthly basis some times weekly  and reassured that the operator is going to escalate my case, and fraud team will contact me within 24hrs.   Its reminds of how möbius strip functions.  

I  am retired, I am dialyze at home, diabetic I rely on my phone what does it take to settle this?  I cannot imagine if I was working person with limited time wasted chasing O2.

Thank you

Peter K

[Enlli]

Suffice it to say there was an article in the Guardian about fraud. O2 is the most complained about it seems, with apparent in action by the fraud team.

Other network deal with such cases quite quickly.