Mobile phone contract scam masked identity fraud – The Crusader
Wife Irene Shaw rightly refused to accept it and after some debate the driver took it away.
A few weeks later husband Rob received a series of disturbing letters from Virgin Media O2 warning him he was defaulting on a £1,500 credit agreement he had taken out with them.
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The arrears were mounting and so was the pressure. Although innocent Rob was worried and very wary at first about calling the number cited on the correspondence.
“I don’t have any Virgin Media account but I didn’t want to reveal my details and it looks like a high cost number,” he explained when sharing his concerns with Crusader.
In a bid to sort it out, he called the company’s customer services. “I was told to send an email to the section dealing with phishing,” he added, “but they said they only dealt with email scams, not letters.”
With something clearly suspect going on, the key thing now was action to stop the rot before it became harder for Rob to set matters straight and his credit record was affected.
After we alerted Virgin Media O2, its digging revealed identity fraud was the likely cause and that had a frightening ripple effect.
“A mobile phone contract was taken out in [Rob’s] name, with the scammer having sufficient information to successfully pass credit checks,” a spokesperson explained.
Records show the phone was never activated or used, which vindicates Irene’s refusal to accept it.
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However after that there’s no trace of the courier company returning it to Virgin. Had that happened it would have closed down the account.
Instead the phone is marked as being delivered which left the account still active. The mystery of the missing phone proved the link that caused the arrears warnings and potentially bad consequences for Rob.
Virgin is now following up on the courier line of inquiry. “As soon as this was reported to us, we took swift action to close down the account, wipe the balance owed and ensure that [Rob’s] credit file won’t be impacted,” a spokesperson added.
“Peace at last, thank you,” Rob responded. [The couple’s names have been changed]
For more guidance on preventing identity fraud, visit: virginmedia. com/help/security/how-to-
However after that there’s no trace of the courier company returning it to Virgin. Had that happened it would have closed down the account.
Instead the phone is marked as being delivered which left the account still active. The mystery of the missing phone proved the link that caused the arrears warnings and potentially bad consequences for Rob.
Virgin is now following up on the courier line of inquiry. “As soon as this was reported to us, we took swift action to close down the account, wipe the balance owed and ensure that [Rob’s] credit file won’t be impacted,” a spokesperson added.
“Peace at last, thank you,” Rob responded. [The couple’s names have been changed]
For more guidance on preventing identity fraud, visit: virginmedia. com/help/security/how-to-
Criminals target over-60s as telecom scams surge
Given the fraudster had enough financial details about Rob to take a phone contract in his name, he now must be super careful, checking his bank account and rejecting any surprise parcels.
His wariness to call at first is understandable however and it’s things like this that crooks exploit. Identity fraud cases rose by 25 per cent last year, according to fraud prevention service Cifas (www.cifas.org.uk), with criminals targeting the over-60s.
Telecom scams are surging, especially fake phone dealer ones, where victims are duped into sharing personal information after being offered upgrades or discounts.
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