I’ve been scammed

Bluebell, Im sorry you were scammed and the others its happened to. Im embarrassing ignorant with some aspects of
Technology. The person that was scammed at an airport using their wi fi I would have assumed that was safe.,I always use mobile data whilst out and assumed that was safe too. Going to have to do some long overdue research into the subject.

Oh BlueBelle that is awful. It makes you not trust any calls unless they are one of your contacts. I have missed several important calls because of this sort of thing because I don’t answer these days unless they leave a message. I block them but they come back all the time. What a world, hey ?

Unfortunately Nanna8 you’re dammed if you do damned if you don’t I ve since learned the text message I DIDNT answer because I thought it was a scam was actually the phone company themselves asking me if I d changed my address, as I ignored it, as we are told to do if unsure, and as it was evening time when the helpline is closed the scammers won and got the phones sent to their flat in London.

Having said that the phone company need to find a way to prove they are genuine when sending a message I think otherwise how will we ever know it’s a genuine text ??

This happened onTuesday evening and after going into the shop Wednesday morning I got a text saying they had changed my address (presumable back to my address… great)
Then on Thursday at 8.21 in the morning I have another text saying they ve changed my address as requested …… is this just a repeat text or have they changed it to something else?
Then yesterday I got a further text with a link for me to tap into to talk to someone…. I m not clicking on any link
I ll go back to the shop this morning to confirm I m still me at my same address
What a blooming muddle

Blimey Iam I used unsecured WiFi at Manchester airport only yesterday afternoon. I expect hundreds of passengers did too.

Bluebelle You have been scammed but you did not fall for the scam and from the start you were aware of the problem and dealt with it correctly.

I know this has caused you a lot of hassle and worry, but the main thing to remember was that you actually foiled an attempt at scamming because when you realised your phone account had been compromised you did all the right things.

You now need to go back to your phone supplier and ask them how someone was able to get into your account and change the address. They are the people at fault, it was possible for thieves to get into your account and change the address without you doing or saying anything - and this shows a serious flaw in the security of their customer accounts system.

Thank you monica yes I did act very quickly and realised something was going on, but you are right there must be a security problem, as they said they lose thousands to these sort of scams, the man in the shop did say it could have been an inside job, ie one of the workers, and I guess that would be the most likely answer but I m going back to the shop today and will ask that question Thanks

I would also move to another mobile phone provider.

I don’t want to move Monica I have been with them for years and never had any problems They are one if the main providers don’t think the scammers are only using one provider I think it s common to all

I did go in to the shop again today and everything is back to normal and the fraud team are working on the crime no money has been taken out of my account
I asked the question as to how anyone could get into my account to alter the address and they had no answers unless it happened within their workforce but he did say the scams are getting more and more sophisticated
He also explain how all the companies pay ‘ethical scammers’ (I suppose like the police use paid informers) people to work on new scams and to see how they work ( I wonder how safe that is )
Anyway there is nothing more I could do and nothing I did that wasn’t a correct action

Sadly it's not safe to use any public network like shopping centres, Costa, airports, etc. Any hacker sitting reasonably close by can pick up any signals leaving your phone and hack into your phone. That doesn't mean it will happen - just that if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time it could happen.

When we get messages from Barclays they have an agreed phrase that they use so we know it's from them. Something perhaps other companies should do.

Yes that’s a good idea Arewethereyet and this all happened in my own home that I live alone no one else has access to my phone and I have not used any pubic networks for about a year or more when I stayed at a travel lodge

We have got an EE dongle, essentially it is a little device that connects to EE's 4G mobile network and uses this connection to create a mini wireless broadband cloud just for the user. It means that you can get online wherever you can get a mobile phone signal. All it needs is somewhere to plug it in to the electricity supply. It means it is not necessary to use public networks in hotels etc.

We used it on holiday on a Rhine cruise recently, we use when we go to France, stay in hotels in the UK. they are not expensive and costs about £30 from Amazon.

BlueBelle

I don’t want to move Monica I have been with them for years and never had any problems They are one if the main providers don’t think the scammers are only using one provider I think it s common to all

I did go in to the shop again today and everything is back to normal and the fraud team are working on the crime no money has been taken out of my account
I asked the question as to how anyone could get into my account to alter the address and they had no answers unless it happened within their workforce but he did say the scams are getting more and more sophisticated
He also explain how all the companies pay ‘ethical scammers’ (I suppose like the police use paid informers) people to work on new scams and to see how they work ( I wonder how safe that is )
Anyway there is nothing more I could do and nothing I did that wasn’t a correct action

One of my daughters worked in banking as an ethical banking
She was given fictitious bank a/c and had to try and break into them.

Who is your provider, please?

BlueBelle

Well on Tuesday night I had a text from my phone company asking if I had changed my address and to text them back if I hadn’t. Well knowing about scams I didn’t want to text back in case I was opening a can of worms and texting the scammers themselves
I tried ringing my provider but the help desk goes off at 6 till next morning so couldn’t During the night I had a number of texts congratulating me on ordering 2 of the latest expensive new phones and they would be delivered shortly They also thanked me for changing to some new golden plan (of course I hadn’t)

The next morning I tried ringing I was about 25 in the queue so told work I d have to take an hour off to go and sort it out at their shop in town
I was there 11/2 hours The scammers had already changed my address to some flat in London and ordered two on the latest state of the art phones before the text asking me if I d changed my address One phone has already been sent out and delivered to the flat, they managed to abort the second phone delivery
I have spoken to their fraud office at length, I did everything right but now I m in a pickle as just now I ve had a text saying they want to talk to me and I ve no idea whether to answer it or not It appears to be the company’s number but it was before so how can I possible know what’s legit and what’s not and I had a phone call from the fraud people this morning so why are they texting me to call them again
Anyway I thought I d write on here as a warning, it wasn’t a scam I could have avoided, as the phone number was the company’s number.
They said they are losing thousands it a very sophisticated scam
It’s really bothered me

Am I understanding this right? You are going to your phone provider to try and sort this? Scammers can spoof phone numbers. How have they paid for the phones - through your bank account? If so, it's your bank you need to contact - phone 159, you'll get a list of options for banks then be put through to your bank

That's awful and I hope you get it all sorted out with appropriate help. Thank you for warning us. I was almost just scammed in a different way - so here is advance warning in case it happens to someone else. I had a call about my phone from as far as I could work out the provider I use - but am rather hard of hearing and could not hear all the caller said, so was slow to work out it was a scam. The scam was to tell me my SIM card is in some way faulty and they will send me a new one, with the same number and then all will be well. Except of course it would not be. Not sure if a new SIM card will actually arrive, but if it does will certainly not be using it. I hope this may save someone else from falling into this trap.

I was similarly scammed too. Someone accessed my mobile account & ordered a new iPhone. They contacted me & said there had been a mistake & that they would send a courier to my house to collect it! I told them I wouldn't be giving anything to a "courier". They were very persistent but I contacted my mobile provider who sorted it out. Incidentally my provider, 02, said they would never call or text me as happened in this case.

straightaway block your card and get in touch with your bank but use your landline and not mobile phone and inform the police

Watch Scam Interceptors on iPlayer - they cover this scam.

Call the company from a landline or any phone number that is not yours. Ask for a person who does not work there. If they tell you he is out of the office at the moment, it means they have hi-jacked the company's phone lines, too.

The best of luck to you - how very awful and stressful for you . ❤️

Be careful that any call to you isn't from the scammers again. Always say you will call them back using the official ten no off the official website or you bill. I was scammed a while back and cancelled all my cards and then the buggers rang me pretending to be my banks fraud department!!!

Thanks Pennyhalpenny I ll have a look
Tanjamaltija as you will see from my subsequent posts it has all been dealt with by the company

I had something similar a few years ago. I had a letter confirming a direct debit had been set up to pay for an apple product with a bank Id never used. I phoned the finance provider who said they would post me a fraud pack. The following day I had another letter giving details of a different bank again not a bank I used. Told by finance provider to add this 2nd account to the fraud pack. There followed months of problems getting it sorted and I went to the Financial Ombudsman who were also hopeless. I ended up getting compensation from the finance provider and the financial ombudsman. Apple told me the products had to be delivered to the address where the finance was obtained but it must have been intercepted somewhere on route as nothing was delivered to my home. What made me angry was that the scammers had given an incorrect date of birth for me and this wasnt picked up by the finance provider 👿