Fradulent mobile contract taken out

[mattster]

Sometimes they can set up the contract to yourCo address but ask for the phone to be shipped to a different address. They get a free phone, you get the bill. If they're quick and you're slow, they may be able to sell that phone on to some unsuspecting mug before the phone company block it.

Ah OK - I got the impression the fradusters were paying as well for some reason, but I got confused with a different story.

Reminds me of when someone tried to get a new phone on my personal mobile plan. Luckily I got a text message about the delivery which set the alarm bells off. Turns out someone had ordered a new iPhone to an entirely different address (in Penge! - I'm on the South coast), and Vodaphone were simply going to ship it to them no questions asked. A slightly odd experience, actually. I ended up speaking to their fraud team for a while, and although they stopped the order they couldn't - or wouldn't - explain to me how this had come about. All the more strange, because their (truly awful) website asks for text message security confirmations so often that it is almost unusable, and yet it did nothing to stop this particular miscreant. I must admit I got the definite whiff of "inside job" due to their evasive answering when I pressed them on how it could have happened.

[TestMangler]

How did you remove the credit check records?

Mostly by chasing the Mobile Provider to provide the updates to the credit ref agencies. I was told that they batch up records once a month to upload, but there is a way to get it done quicker if you hassle them. Takes a couple of days, but once they agree it was fraud and sort out at their end, it will update to experian, equifax et al withing 30 days.

[cojak]

Had similar happen years ago and only found out when I got credit checked for a gig and they claimed I hadn't disclosed a previous address in the last five years.

Couldn't work out what the scam was because it had happened 18 months before I found out. Whoever did it was paying the bill.

It was all sorted out with a couple of phone calls and data removed from credit file fairly quickly.

I don't know if it works with a business, but I have an Experian account set up that will tell me if anyone has set anything up in my name - personal credit and address changes would send alerts out to me as soon as they hit the file.

[OneManBand]

Sometimes they can set up the contract to yourCo address but ask for the phone to be shipped to a different address. They get a free phone, you get the bill. If they're quick and you're slow, they may be able to sell that phone on to some unsuspecting mug before the phone company block it.

In my case, they didn't get the bank account details. I have checked all the business and personal accounts, and there hasn't been any new direct debit set up, nor any fishy transactions. So maybe they just used the company's credit history to get a nice phone, which they'll now unlock and sell.

I do wonder whose bank accounts they used to set up the direct debit though. EE won't tell me for obvious reasons. They only said the last 4 digits don't match with any of my accounts.

[ladymuck]

I don't know if it works with a business, but I have an Experian account set up that will tell me if anyone has set anything up in my name - personal credit and address changes would send alerts out to me as soon as they hit the file.

There is similar on Experian for businesses. A free trial for a few months and then a monthly fee, of course. I'd rather pay for a six monthly or annual ad hoc check.

I have a free personal credit check thing with one of the reference agencies and most months it's alerts like "your card balance went down", "your card balance went up" which is really annoying as I pay my cards off in full every month and they're reporting activity now that happened in November or December. It's hardly real time alerting due to the way companies send in the data.

[BillHicksRIP]

I had a weird one a couple of weeks ago which I'm still puzzled about. Text message from o2 saying someone had changed their o2 contact number for a given email address from this number. If I did not authorise this, contact o2. I was on o2 years ago and the text came through on their known number. Rang them and they had no record of a text being sent, said they'd passed it to their fraud team. A few days later I get a mail from o2 to my personal email saying DPD will deliver my new phone to x address. Rang o2 again and they had no record of the person's email address, the address the phone was being sent to or any new changes to my mobile number. Said they'd pass again to their fraud team but heard nothing since. Very odd.

[OneManBand]

Received a letter from EE about the direct debit being set up. The letter gave the sort code and the last 4 digits of the account number. The bastards have opened the account in my company's name.

Called the bank in question (same bank where I have my account). They're opening a fraud investigation now.

[SueEllen]

Received a letter from EE about the direct debit being set up. The letter gave the sort code and the last 4 digits of the account number. The bastards have opened the account in my company's name.

Called the bank in question (same bank where I have my account). They're opening a fraud investigation now.

So it's internal to either EE or the bank.

[BlueSharp]

I was subjected to ID fraud a few years ago, but as a minted successful contractor one comes to expect it.

The scam involved taking out a phone contract in my name in a shop. The scammer then walks out with a free premium phone they can sell on.

The second scam involved John Lewis who were handing out store credit cards in store instead of them being delivered to home addresses. Same ID as a phone contract for a credit card with a 6k limit on it!

3 fraudulent phone contracts and a 6k credit card quickly resolved by being prompt in notifying the respective fraud teams. I would strongly recommend people sign up to something like creditkarma to keep an eye on their records.

[SueEllen]

They should all send you a monthly email if you sign up -
Transunion - https://www.creditkarma.co.uk/
Equifax - ClearScore | Your Credit Score & Report, For Free, Forever

Experian is a bit different - one of your credit card providers may allow you to have free access otherwise sign up to this - Credit Club | Get your FREE Credit Score, Credit Report & more