What is being done about spoof e-mail

[Anonymous]

Hi all 

I have received a spoof e-mail purporting to be my O2 bill. It initially went as Spam to my Junk box. Seeing that the amount was excessive (over £300) I inadvertently moved it to my Inbox (without looking at the full e-mail address from the sender). Luckily my spyware picked up that it was a fraudulent e-mail, and stopped me from going any further.

The e-mail was from this address: O2 (UK) [anita.felnagy@bognarvin.hu] & this was the contents:

Hi

Your O2 bill for 03/06/14 is now ready. You can look at your bill here 

In total, your bill for this month comes to £313,99. We'll request this amount from your chosen account on, or just after, the date in your bill.

Is your bill more than you were expecting ?

If so, here's a few reasons why this might be:

*     You could have gone over the minutes, texts or data that's in your allowance.

*     You could have called or sent texts to numbers that can't be taken from your allowance such as International, 0800, 0845 numbers or directory enquiries.

*     You have used your phone for calls, text or data whilst abroad.

To view any charges outside your allowance click here 

Best regards

O2 Payment

This email is sent from Telefónica UK Limited. Registered office:

260 Bath Road,Slough, Berkshire, SL1 4DX. Registered number: 1822948464.

Please do not reply.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT TAKEN IN BY THIS!!!!

WHAT ARE O2 DOING TO PREVENT THIS??

Would be pleased to hear what's being done & who else has been affected.

[Anonymous]

Gerry sir indeed you correct that it shouldn't need necessary to use Google. However the fact that a Google search finds them means that they are on the o2 website and a quick search on o2 website should find them.

O2 Are not responsible for people sending these emails, the information is there on the website so not sure what else o2 can do.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Gerry sir indeed you correct that it shouldn't need necessary to use Google. However the fact that a Google search finds them means that they are on the o2 website and a quick search on o2 website should find them.

O2 Are not responsible for people sending these emails, the information is there on the website so not sure what else o2 can do.

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Hello @Anonymous .  I agree that " a quick search on O2 website should find" the information under discussion, but the simple fact is it doesn't - for me at at any rate.

Gerry

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous

Given your very honest and valid comments, and given how serious the threat is, perhaps o2 should be linking this on the front page of the o2 website.

What do you think @Toby?

[MI5]

Only a very small percentage of O2 customers visit the forum and this is been hyped out of all proportion by the media. Banners on the forum homepage would be good but where do you draw the line on what info is displayed?

[Anonymous]

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@MI5 wrote:
Only a very small percentage of O2 customers visit the forum and this is been hyped out of all proportion by the media. Banners on the forum homepage would be good but where do you draw the line on what info is displayed?

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@Anonymous morning @MI5  
I am not at all clear what you meant to imply when you say " Only a small number of O2 Customers visit the forum ... "  Maybe you would elucidate.

As regards your question "where do you draw the line on what info is displayed" that is certainly worthy of full discussion but I would venture to suggest that wherever the line falls it MUST NOT EXCLUDE warnings and alerts about potential threats to the security and integrity of O2 Customer phones and related software.

Gerry

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@MI5 wrote:
Only a very small percentage of O2 customers visit the forum and this is been hyped out of all proportion by the media. Banners on the forum homepage would be good but where do you draw the line on what info is displayed?

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@Anonymous morning @MI5  
I am not at all clear what you meant to imply when you say " Only a small number of O2 Customers visit the forum ... "  Maybe you would elucidate.

Hi Gerry

What I meant was that even if there was a banner on the forum it would only be seen by a very small percentage of O2 customers (O2 has 22 + million customers and they don't all visit here).

[Anonymous]

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@MI5 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@MI5 wrote:
Only a very small percentage of O2 customers visit the forum and this is been hyped out of all proportion by the media. Banners on the forum homepage would be good but where do you draw the line on what info is displayed?

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@Anonymous morning @MI5  
I am not at all clear what you meant to imply when you say " Only a small number of O2 Customers visit the forum ... "  Maybe you would elucidate.

Hi Gerry

What I meant was that even if there was a banner on the forum it would only be seen by a very small percentage of O2 customers (O2 has 22 + million customers and they don't all visit here).

@MI5 I understand that, but the point is if O2 as a service provider is aware that some of its customers are getting messages purporting to be from O2 then it should make that clearly known, with any necessary advice on how to do deal with the situation, on its website (not necessarily on the Community pages since the message is becoming clearer that O2 have little if any input into or interest in the forum which is "customer to customer" support.  I have to say the more I look into it the more disllusioned I am becoming.  When I go to (what I think) is the O2 side of the fence they seem to take lots of opportunities to refer people to the Community, whilst more and more I see Community responses advising people to conatct O2 Customer Services.  I readily admit to being easily confused, but I am sure I am not alone in that. 

I am not being anti-Community in any way - I have benefitted much from the help given here, but  maybe it is time for greater clarity so that customers in need of help know where to turn to with some expectation of getting the help they need within a reasonable timescale and without the online equivalent of those hateful option menus one is presented with on telephone help lines.

Gerry