RETIRED electrician Ron Allan was delighted when he got a call from O2 offering to cut his mobile tariff from £17 to £10 a month.But the 61-year-old from Nottingham grew suspicious when the caller kept probing for personal details and eventually hung up.
Ron is one of hundreds of thousands of customers targeted by identity thieves each year — with more than 277,000 cases reported last year alone, according to Stunned Chris, 27, reported it straight away as he has never had a contract with O2, but like Ron he couldn’t get anyone to put things right. But he says the case handler assigned to him by O2 said they couldn’t transfer him directly to Virgin’s fraud department.
Jake Moore, an expert at cyber security firm ESET, says: “Taking out a phone contract is designed to be as quick and easy as possible, which often means it’s less secure.Mobile UK, the trade body that represents phone firms, says telecom firms are part of a task force working with theto protect customers and added: “Our members use detailed ID and credit checks and behaviour analysis tools to block suspected fraud.
“Hang up and call that company back using the number from your bills and key the digits in yourself to ensure that it’s not a scammer.”It believes that Ron must have shared a code at some point with the fraudster to allow this to happen.An O2 spokesperson said: “We’re doing everything we can to stop fraudulent activity.”IF you think someone has stolen your identity, phone your bank and mobile firm to check for anything suspicious and to make sure your money is safe.
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