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Fraud!! How can this happen ....

Anonymous
Not applicable

I am still waiting to hear from the fraud department and 02 have been most unhelpful which is leading me to believe that possibly this is an inside job!

 

Apparently 02 called me on the 21st December to change my address but will not tell me what prompted this phone call. They didnt call ME and apparently on the same day not only was the address changed but someone took out a new contract and ordered themselves a nice swanky phone! 

 

My account shows the order for the phone on that date but what I cant understand is that my email has not changed so why was the normal notification of change of contract, new phone, etc emailed to me as is the normal course.

 

As I sit here fuming just out of frustration I was wondering if anyone else has had this happen?

 

When I spoke to the fraud department they didnt seem too bothered and apparently this happens a lot and the person just wants a nice phone to sell on. Thats great, but in the meantime, whilst I wait for them to think about sorting this out I have to pay the high monthly charges that this lovely little blighter decided to choose on my behalf!

 

Once this has been sorted and after 11 years of being with 02 I shall be moving to another company!  We also have two other phone contracts with 02 which shall also be moved!

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MI5
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"Inside job" has been muttered in the past wink
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
Pixel 7a (O2 & Lyca), One Plus 6 (Sfr), iPhone 12 Pro Max (Vodafone)
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perksie
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@Anonymous wrote:

Trying to rack my brains on what O2 CS ask you when you phone up. 

Sure it is your full name, Postcode and the answer to your security question? 

If I was in the OP situation would be asking how somebody got my name, address and password. I would then be checking with my bank and changing details as well as changing passwords for every account be it bank or email. I would be running every known anti virus known to man. 

I suspect the phone account is the tip of the iceberg and I would expect letters for pay day loans etc through the door very soon. 


In my case none of that happened and all else was safe, I believe the thief blagged his way into my account without knowing the password, possibly catching a CSA on a bad day.

 

I don't think the perfect system exists but as long as there are the right checks much of this could be stopped.

 

If I order a phone for delivery to another address a text or email to confirm it would have stopped it dead.

 

Fortunately I had the new order details sent directly to me so was able to cancel it immediately.

 

My account was not hacked and still works perfectly, all I did was change the password just to be sure.

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Message 32 of 42
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Anonymous
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You're right perks ice.

In my opinion it should not be possible to send a phone to a new address straight after it had been changed. Surely that in itself should ring alarm bells!?
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Anonymous
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Foshiznik - at last, someone on the same page as me .. YES, a new handset should not be sent out straight after an address has been changed.

 

This will be my last post here as I am now jumping ship to hopefully a more professional company but I am grateful for some of the posts people have taken the time to write.

 

In summary, the 11 year reference was not to verify that I am a 100% customer, its more to the fact that I have given them 11 years of my money over that period of time. We run our own business and know that customers that are loyal are rewarded.  I am 110% safe with all my information and have different passwords for every online account. I still to this date have no idea how they got into my account and 02 will not shed any light on this either.

 

Apparently, someone managed to change my address via the chat and then order themselves a new phone and change the contract.  This persons address is still showing on my account so it wasnt just changed to receive the handset, it was physically altered on my account. I have queries as to why I received no notification when via email etc to confirm this change/delivery but still no answer.

 

I did receive my call from the fraud department late yesterday afternoon and it was a very quick call. I was asked how I was notified of this, but I told them it was from logging on that I found out my contract had changed and that my address was now up north! She told me in a very relaxed manner "oh I see whats happened, someone has accessed your account to change the address so you dont get the phone" .. genius! She also went on to say that I can see this is fraud and that they will revert my account back to how it was and if I wanted to upgrade I could .. err no thanks!

 

I was going to take my number with me to safe all the hassle of changing but as I am getting this really irritating calls still I shall have to start afresh.  Thanks for all the input! slight_smile

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jonsie
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Good luck with your new provider and I hope they are more security aware than O2 appear to be. I do hope O2 sort this mess out quickly for you and that it doesn't drag on for 3 months as it did with one of our long standing members on here. If at all possible could you report back once everything has been finalised so we can be aware of the the timescales involved?

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Anonymous
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the whole not sending out a phone straight after the address has been changed is a nice enough theory but in practice i suspect it would bomb badly -

picture this: you move house, decorate and notice you have a few pound extra than expected, you look & see your phone is scabby & old so decide "ooh hey! I want a new one!" so log on to their O2 and change the address from the former to the current and try to order a new one but can't due to new procedures.
picture this too: living in a house or even moved in with a partner, hey - even staying with a partner more than at home - don't get round to changing the address on O2 but decide they want a new phone, they go on, change address and boom same shenanigan.

 

tl;dr its a nice theory, just might not work well in practice given many different situations

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perksie
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If you register with the Electoral Roll and notify a credit reference agency as well as anybody else that you might be dealing with, ordering new stuff should be ok.

 

It can cause huge problems if it's not done, a driving licence is not valid unless updated immediately if you move, and with all else it takes a while to get it all done but you have to.

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Message 37 of 42
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Anonymous
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I agree they should be changed asap, but in reality - yes, drivers licence etc but your o2 account - especially when no communication comes through post (not sure if it does for contract users) people probably wouldn't rush to get it changed
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Anonymous
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on the 14/06/2013 this has just happened to me. I got a text stating my phone will be ready to collect from store soon but i didnt order one or upgrade i didnt want to as I am on simplicity. i logged into my account and found I am now on a 24 month contract with a £600 samsung 4s to my name. i used the live chat 4 times got absolutley nowhere they havnt got a clue. one of the times i got cut off 3 times and each time you get passed to another person who then asks how may i help you!!! start all over again. I phoned o2 customer services who told me the fraud department would call and that was friday. Its now Tuesday and still no call. I received another text today explaining my phone is now ready to pick up. I used live chat on o2 again to find out what store and got the number. when i called a women explained the phone has just been picked up 30 minutes before i called and they now have the cctv of them. But o2 were told about this last friday by 3 live chats and a phone call would they not have the common sense to let the shop know about this catching the person red handed. Total idiots its their own fault they must not care about the millions they lose.

 

I now cant cancel my direct debit as I will get black marks on my credit report which i cant have so I am stuck now paying £37 per month instead of £16.50 until they sort it out.
 14 years i have stayed with them but that is the end of it. I dont know if they have hacked my account and now have all my details like bank card dob etc...or if they have hacked my email address. I changed all my passwords to different ones just incase and phoned my bank. I have now spent hours trying to sort an o2 problem out with very little help from o2. The lady in the shop was the most help I have had. They dont even ask for id when they pick a hand set up as long as they have the code from the emails. I dont know how but my o2 email never got changed and i did not receive any emails at all so how do they intercept it? Any it better get sorted very soon before any bills are due.

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perksie
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You aren't the police, although this should be reported to them as it's identity fraud, anything that happens on your account once you have reported it is their problem.

 

O2 will be quite happy to have lost a phone and it's not your problem.

 

Try not to worry too much their fraud department will sort it out and your account restored to normal.

 

I would change my account password for extra safety if I were you.

 

When this happened to me it took about 3 months before my account was back to normal, but I wasn't asked to pay any of the extra charges due to this.

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