HELP TOPIC: Fraudulent Transactions - O2 Prepay Slough

[Anonymous]

Question: I have received my debit/credit card statement and there is a transaction on there which is showing "O2 Prepay Slough" and I haven't done it! What is it for?

Answer: Someone has obtained your card details (and not from O2!) and has used them to buy a O2 top-up.

The reason it has got O2 Slough on your debit/credit card statement is not because the fraud is originating there but is because Slough is where O2's HQ is and all top-up payments are processed there.

When a top-up is bought through one of the automated systems (for example: the top-up line or a web top-up), a number of security questions will be asked and would need to be answered correctly before the top-up is allowed.

If the security questions are answered correctly, then O2 assumes that it is you making the transaction as they haven't got any way in knowing that it isn't you and after all, the security questions have been answered correctly.

This is why it is vitally important to ensure that your card is 100% secure all of the time and this includes not borrowing your card to a family member or friend so that they can make a one-off top-up as your card will then be registered on their O2 Pay & Go account and it would then be easier for them if they wanted to do another top-up in the future.

Please do NOT contact O2 Customer Services as there is absolutely NOTHING that they can do for you. What you need to do is contact your card issuer and report it as fraud and they will then liaise with O2's Fraud and Security Team on your behalf.

Note: Only the card issuer can liaise with O2's Security and Fraud Team and not yourself.

It is then the responsibility of the card issuer to give you a refund and not O2.

Please also have a look at the site here, which gives you very useful information about how to protect yourself against fraud and identity theft.

[Anonymous]

I have also been the victim of this and have researched the subject... I keep coming across the same thing... 02 prepay top ups and Halifax bank... I hardly ever use my Halifax card and yet its been used fraudulently... I dont know the PIN (never had one) and the card is stored in my bedside draw.. if I am totally honest the only people that know my card details are Halifax.. could this be an employee? please can everyone, that has been a victim of this, say which bank they are with?

I have just seen so many people say Halifax and its really starting to make me suspicious?

Thanks all

[Anonymous]

I have also been the victim of this and have researched the subject... I keep coming across the same thing... 02 prepay top ups and Halifax bank... I hardly ever use my Halifax card and yet its been used fraudulently... I dont know the PIN (never had one) and the card is stored in my bedside draw.. if I am totally honest the only people that know my card details are Halifax.. could this be an employee? please can everyone, that has been a victim of this, say which bank they are with?
I have just seen so many people say Halifax and its really starting to make me suspicious?
Thanks all

Have you spoken to the Halifax about this? what have they said?

[Anonymous]

I have also been the victim of this and have researched the subject... I keep coming across the same thing... 02 prepay top ups and Halifax bank... I hardly ever use my Halifax card and yet its been used fraudulently... I dont know the PIN (never had one) and the card is stored in my bedside draw.. if I am totally honest the only people that know my card details are Halifax.. could this be an employee? please can everyone, that has been a victim of this, say which bank they are with?
I have just seen so many people say Halifax and its really starting to make me suspicious?
Thanks all

Have you spoken to the Halifax about this? what have they said?

I have spoken to them to inform them of the fraudulent use and did say I found it all very odd (this was before I had seen the info on the internet that made me think there could be a link) they said it was unusual but could be due to anything... even insinuated that it could have been someone in my house.. which I can say 100% its not.

Thats why I wanted to find out if this is affecting a large number of Halifax customers as so far the only bank I have heard mentioned is Halifax and all this seems quite coincidental.

[Anonymous]

Hello people,
i would just like to start by saying i have only found this topic because i have been scammed aswell! 02 prepay slough! i have spoken to bank and gone through the ususual did ur friend do it questions, also just to say im not with halifax im with hsbc and i personaly dont think its the root cause, looking at it from a salesmans point of view i deal with so many peoples bank details on a day to day basis that dont even know for a fact i am calling from the place i say i am, luckly for them i am! the problem is people arnt carful enough and these atms are just not safe anymore! if it wer up to me i would put them next to the till in every petrol station that way the cashier can have eyes on it at all times. what im trying to say is weather chip and pin or signatures are needed the people who do this are allways going to find a way to do this and we just need to be more carefull. also advertising it on tv eg the real hustle! yes is helping people stop from having it done to them but also its teaching many people how to do it as well..... although i love the programme.

[Anonymous]

what about the people who fraud? do they get their sims disabled or something? or do the victims just get a refund?

[perksie]

Yes you get a refund from your card issuer, and usually a new card.

The villains simply keep switching phones are are difficult to track down, anyone can have an unregistered mobile, and when one sim gets stopped they put another one in.

This is why it is totally pointless berating the phone companies about it as there is little they can do.

[Anonymous]

Thought you might find this interesting, in relation to fraud. These are excerpts from the 2008 Banking Code
The full code is available from http://www.bankingcode.org.uk/pdfdocs/PERSONAL_CODE_2008.PDF




Protecting your accounts
23
• If someone else uses your card details without your
permission, and your card has not been lost or
stolen, you will not have to pay anything.
• If someone else uses your card details without your
permission for a transaction where the cardholder
does not need to be present (for example, buying
something over the internet), you will not have to
pay anything.
• If your card is used before you have received it, you
will not have to pay anything.
12.13 Unless you have acted fraudulently or without
reasonable care (for example by not following the
advice in section 12.9), you will not be liable for losses
caused by someone else which take place through your
online banking service.

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

I don't know if anyone can help me with this, but i've just suffered from the same scam.

I've been to my local natwest bank, who have been very helpful in cancelling my card and investigating the fraud. But they said to proceed further they needed the telephone number and the name of someone to liase with from the O2 security / fraud team. They reason is because I am already a paying customer for O2 (I have a pay monthly contract) and obviously they want to make sure this is definitely fraud.

I've seen that AndyManchester has put that O2 cannot sort out the problem themselves, but does anyone know the number I should ring so that I can pass on that number and whoever natwest can speak to to sort out me getting back my £30?

Or should I just ring customer services and see how things go from there?

Thanks.

[perksie]

If you read the post above, you are not liable.

Also it is not up to you to play detective, once you have informed the card issuer what has occurred, and signed a disclaimer to the fraudulent payments, you should not have to do anything else.

If they need to contact O2 I am sure they can do that for themselves.

[Anonymous]

hi everyone i have just discovered this scam and i have been on to both my bank and o2 went online to my bank and to my horror ive been done three times the last one today all £30 , need some help here really worried. bank is lloyds tsb.