Who loses in this phone/insurance scam?
October 4, 2011 9:32 AM Subscribe
UK Phone/ insurance scam? Company don't seem to care. Need ideas?
Today I recieved in the post an insurance document from Tesco Phone Insurance. A GalaxyS2 phone on the Vodafone network was bought on the 29th September and insured in my name.
My name and address are correct but the Bank account details and Sort code details are not. The Sort Code ends in **0001 which is not any bank I've ever done business with.
So someone bought a phone and presumably will soon scam Tesco insurance or for some other innocent reason they don't want their name on the phone. Yeah.
I have just spent 45 fruitless minutes onto Tesco Insurance, Tesco Technical, and Tesco "Care" team. Bottom line is they don't care. I would have to go through the Vodafone system now (which is not free) and potentially lose another 40 minutes trying to alert people to this.
So Mefites, since it's not my bank account being scammed, what would you do? Obviously I don't like the fact that my name is being used like this, but I don't have endless amounts of time to do this.
What form do you think this scam is taking, and what can I do without incurring additional expense with the IMEI number, the Insurance Policy number, the mobile phone number? (I called, it continually goes to Vodafone voicemail) to alert people to this......whatever it is.
what else can people do with just my name & address? Yes I have heard horror stories of Identity Theft so any advice of what to do in the UK very greatfully recived also.
Today I recieved in the post an insurance document from Tesco Phone Insurance. A GalaxyS2 phone on the Vodafone network was bought on the 29th September and insured in my name.
My name and address are correct but the Bank account details and Sort code details are not. The Sort Code ends in **0001 which is not any bank I've ever done business with.
So someone bought a phone and presumably will soon scam Tesco insurance or for some other innocent reason they don't want their name on the phone. Yeah.
I have just spent 45 fruitless minutes onto Tesco Insurance, Tesco Technical, and Tesco "Care" team. Bottom line is they don't care. I would have to go through the Vodafone system now (which is not free) and potentially lose another 40 minutes trying to alert people to this.
So Mefites, since it's not my bank account being scammed, what would you do? Obviously I don't like the fact that my name is being used like this, but I don't have endless amounts of time to do this.
What form do you think this scam is taking, and what can I do without incurring additional expense with the IMEI number, the Insurance Policy number, the mobile phone number? (I called, it continually goes to Vodafone voicemail) to alert people to this......whatever it is.
what else can people do with just my name & address? Yes I have heard horror stories of Identity Theft so any advice of what to do in the UK very greatfully recived also.
It's more likely that YOU are getting scammed than the company, because the scammer has your information attached, presumably, to his bank account. He probably fished your info out of your trash, or purchased it somewhere. You don't know that the scammer doesn't have your bank info.
There is a public service website set up in the UK to help victims get a handle on reporting: http://www.identitytheft.org.uk/Reporting-the-problem.asp
You may not have time to deal with this, but if you are a victim of identity theft, you need to do things like cancel and reissue all of your credit cards, alert your banks, etc. It's time consuming. Some homeowners insurance and other supplementary insurances in the US offer an identity theft rider, which covers your pay while you're dealing with the red tape around the fraud stuff.
posted by juniperesque at 9:47 AM on October 4, 2011
There is a public service website set up in the UK to help victims get a handle on reporting: http://www.identitytheft.org.uk/Reporting-the-problem.asp
You may not have time to deal with this, but if you are a victim of identity theft, you need to do things like cancel and reissue all of your credit cards, alert your banks, etc. It's time consuming. Some homeowners insurance and other supplementary insurances in the US offer an identity theft rider, which covers your pay while you're dealing with the red tape around the fraud stuff.
posted by juniperesque at 9:47 AM on October 4, 2011
I'd suggest calling the network operator with the IMEI and let them know this was registered incorrectly (if you don't know who the operator is, I'd try Tesco, seems like a good bet!)
Secondly, as I understand it, it's the first two numbers of the sort code that identify the bank, the other four are for the branch - for example, 20-**-** is Barclays, 08-**-** is Co-Op , etc.
Finally, this may shoud harsh, but unless you're really dead set on righting wrongs and fighting injustice, you have better ways to spend your time. If the insurer isn't interested when you tell them they're being used for a scam, there's not much chance you'll make headway elsewhere.
posted by fearnothing at 9:50 AM on October 4, 2011
Secondly, as I understand it, it's the first two numbers of the sort code that identify the bank, the other four are for the branch - for example, 20-**-** is Barclays, 08-**-** is Co-Op , etc.
Finally, this may shoud harsh, but unless you're really dead set on righting wrongs and fighting injustice, you have better ways to spend your time. If the insurer isn't interested when you tell them they're being used for a scam, there's not much chance you'll make headway elsewhere.
posted by fearnothing at 9:50 AM on October 4, 2011
Argh, misread the vodafone bit. In that case, Vodafone. It really depends on how far the scam goes, whether they're just using your name for the insurance, or for the whole deal.
Further to juniper's answer, is there any more of your information involved than name and address? If not, I wouldn't be too worried about identity theft since name and address are trivial to get hold of. Anything more than that, though, and you should definitely take his/her advice.
posted by fearnothing at 9:54 AM on October 4, 2011
Further to juniper's answer, is there any more of your information involved than name and address? If not, I wouldn't be too worried about identity theft since name and address are trivial to get hold of. Anything more than that, though, and you should definitely take his/her advice.
posted by fearnothing at 9:54 AM on October 4, 2011
File a police report? It wouldn't take long, and would protect you later in case someone tried to say it was you.
posted by EtTuHealy at 10:20 AM on October 4, 2011
posted by EtTuHealy at 10:20 AM on October 4, 2011
Perhaps Tesco and/or Vodafone would be more likely to help if you told them you were filing a complaint which could be worthwhile.
My parents read Which? magazine which has a lot of useful stuff on this. I found this on their website for instance. Good luck!
posted by greenish at 11:40 AM on October 4, 2011
My parents read Which? magazine which has a lot of useful stuff on this. I found this on their website for instance. Good luck!
posted by greenish at 11:40 AM on October 4, 2011
Best answer: You could try tweeting Vodafone at @VodafoneUK. Uk mobile operators seem to be responding to Twitter and Facebook requests quickly these days, and it's free to contact them. Good luck!
posted by mgrrl at 2:13 PM on October 4, 2011
posted by mgrrl at 2:13 PM on October 4, 2011
Response by poster: Awesome suggestion mgrll! I tweeted VodafoneUk and e-mailed the webrelations@vodafone.com address on their Twitter stream and they rang me within one hour to say they were actioning this and kicking it up to their Fraud section. and thanked me for alerting them! result.
posted by Wilder at 3:42 AM on October 5, 2011
posted by Wilder at 3:42 AM on October 5, 2011
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posted by Wilder at 9:45 AM on October 4, 2011