Scam on my account

[JPR]

I was scammed back in September  when my account was hacked and a smart device was ordered by the scammers. After contacting O2 for help I refused delivery of the device and it was returned to O2 the next day.

Jump forward 2 months the device appeared on my O2 account and  a direct debit set up. I have spoken to customer services on 6 occasions and they have confirmed that they have received the device and that the fraud team were sorting things out. To date nothing has happened and the device is still showing on my account. Has anyone out there had a similar experience? 

[Bambino]

@JPR The fraud team apparently is exceedingly slow. Nothing can be done until you are contacted by them. Have you changed your passwords and informed your bank?

Have you reported the fraud to the police? https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

[Enlli]

Sorry to tell you there are a lot of posts similar to yours.

As it is with the Fraud Team there is nothing we can do here as we are simply customers with no O2 staff on board.

You may be in for a long wait.

[Oxonian]

@JPR 

In fairness to the O2 fraud team, they are probably overwhelmed with work judging by the number of posts similar to yours on this forum. Fraud against O2 has recently been the subject of national newspaper reports as well as a documentary on BBC TV. Such frauds appear to have reached endemic levels.   

One issue that is often overlooked is that the fraud team are fettered in what they can say if they are looking at a criminal prosecution. And if they tell someone about or give a progress report on an ongoing investigation, they can be accused of "tipping-off" under the money laundering regulations, which is itself an offence. Another complication is that "your" fraudster might be under investigation for multiple offences.

You have no option but to await an outcome which is very unsatisfactory from your viewpoint. But I though that it might be useful to put the situation into context.