Beware this scam...

I have warned my daughter - she might not resist an expensive phone!

It's a complicated scam, I wouldn't have guessed it was a fraud. Thank's for the warning.

I have a feeling that only so many are checked Aka and that these scammers have just been lucky that their's had passed,the Sales Team concerned may just check 4 out of 5 and it sounds as if yours was one that escaped through the net.

Update on above scam. I've received a confirmation of Direct Debit' from Vodafone. Apparently I now have a bank account with Halifax, complete with sort code and account number, and they (Vodafone) thank me for setting this up with them, so they can now start taking DD payments from this account.

That should be interesting as I've rung Halifax and they say no such account is active.

What kind of idiot organisation company is it that sends out top of the range phones and sets up Direct Debits (which according to them has been confirmed!!) without doing a proper check?

What a dreadful thing to have happen Aka and what a good thing you - and it would seem your bank - were on the ball. Many thanks for the warning.

This is the scam

You poor thing - what a horrible experience for you.

I hadn't heard of this particular scam before so I'm wondering if you should report it to the police simply so that they can warn other people somehow - maybe get it into the newspapers or radio?

Not addressed to Mr Aka. It had my first and last name on it but preceded by a Mr. My compromised bank card only had my first and last name on it so a non English person might think my first name was a man's.

What in annoying me is why Vodaphone sent out the mobile without first checking the payment had been cleared by the bank. I'm waiting for them to get in touch with me.

Apparently this is quite a common scam (as scams go). I'm wondering if I ought to tell the police but to be honest there's nothing they can do and when we reported a bike stolen by the gypsies they didn't even log it. I know this because I rang up a week later to see if it had been handed in and the had no record of my phone call.

No wonder reported crime (ha ha) is on the decrease.

One thing I'm finding a bit puzzling is why the man at the door would expect you to hand over the parcel as it was obviously correctly addressed to Mr A?

AKA phew! However, why did Vodaphone try to take money from the card? Presumably that bit was genuine, as the cons had ordered it in your name and address [and card] but just needed to get the actual 'item' the phone?The cons must have been a bit stupid though, as they didn't test if the card account worked?I guess they didn't care, as long as they got their hands on the phone.Did you tell the police?

I knew my card had been compromised because the bank suddenly cancelled it and issued me with a new one about 6 months ago. I thought I only used reputable online sites and the bank was very cagey about which site was involved.

But I'm more shocked that I could be part of this scam Ana .. it only happens to other people, I thought.

I don't remember it being on here, Aka, but I too am horrified! Thanks for bringing it to our attention, even if it has been mentioned before. Very worrying that someone has somehow got your card details.

Actually now it's all over (I hope) I'm left with a bad feeling. Criminals targeted me, they had the nerve to come to my house, someone stole my card details, someone else passed them on

It could have been so much worse. I might have been left £560 poorer, trying to convince my bank I didn't order this phone and that 'the bad men took it away'.

I would have felt such a fool if I'd fallen for this. Just thankful that someone previously posted this scam, I read it and remembered reading about it. Was it in GN or somewhere else? Wish I could remember

Thanks Aka. Smart thinking!

I thought afterwards Mishap I ought to have taken a photo of him. Hind sight!

Hmmm- the lengths they go to. We had a problem with someone using our bank details (still do not know who) that was identified by amazon because the thief tried to order goods to an address other than ours. It seems that this is just a stage on from that - get it delivered to the customer address and then go round and threaten people to get the goods. A bit of a risky ploy I would have thought as potentially you can identify the person on the doorstep.

What a quick reaction Aka. If that had been my DH he would just have handed it over (Alzheimers) it scares me to think about others in similar situations.

Scary Aka! They clearly picked the wrong person. Thanks for the warning.

Blimey, aka! What a horrid experience!