Pay monthly services

[kennyjellybelly]

I can sympathise with manyposters in this thread as I have had exactly the same experiences.

A massive iPhone package was taken out on my account on Nov 2011 without my knowledge.  I have been incorrectly overbilled every month for use of mobile data that I have not used. I have made umpteen calls to Vodafone regarding a variety of issues.  Each time I have told them what my current address was, and they still keep a hold of my old address of 3 years ago (each time I ask them to completely wipe that address from my records, and to my frustration they would ask for it in my next call!)

The fraud team have never communicated with me via telephone or in writing as to what the outcome of the fraud investigation was, despite me chasing them every other week for 6 months.  I have sent them an email via the website in Feb 2011, which they claim they have not received, I have also sent them a complaint letter to their Newbury address, wich they claim they have not received.  Forget about the money - I am more worried that Vodafone have underestimated how serious a risk for identity theft there has been.

Despite being a loyal customer since 2002, I finally had enough and changed provider to Orange in March 2011. I paid off the remaining few months left on my contract because it was easily less than the overcharge that Vodafone were going to make.  I am then contacted in May 2011 by FPC Fredrickson International debt collection agency claiming I owe Vodafone £138, two months after leaving them and making my final payment!  I sent Fredrickson a complaint letter (received 7 May 2011) which I have been told has been dispatched to Vodafone.

Still awaiting a reply of course... I'm not even sure if this has been received.

What would be the next reasonable step to take if even the Complaints department at Vodafone are a black hole for communication?

[Wayne]

Hi kennyjellybelly and welcome to the eForum

Thanks for your post here. I'm sorry to hear of the problems you have had. I appreciate how frustrating this must be for you.

If our fraud team are looking at this then chances are your account will be locked out to prevent further fraud but I'm happy to take a look for you.

Thanks

Wayne

eForum Team

[kennyjellybelly]

Thanks for your input Wayne and your kind offer to take a look

Looking forward to hearing from you

[200091]

My wife had similar experiences, I have posted the full account HERE

[Fraud_victim]

Hi

Looks like this is a common thing, it's just happened to me yesterday.

Can someone please contact me asap to help, I couldn't even create a fraud report because the guy didn't believe it was me!!!!

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fraud_victim]

Basically I cancelled my contract last week, I even spoke to someone and cancelled it, then yesterday I got a message saying that my upgrade was being processed.

I rang up, spoke to billing first who verified that my contract had been cancelled, and then I was put through to the 'contracts' department or someone, because I could see online that a new iphone had been ordered in my name.

After speaking to someone in India, she finally revealed to me the address it was being sent to, which was in PECKHAM, London. After I told her that it'snot my address, she told me that was the address I verified with at the beginning of the call, which is crazy because i've never heard that address before!!! She then told me she'd cancelled it  and to go to a store to verify ID, which I currently cannot do for 3 weeks becuse i'm abroad.

I rang again today to make sure it had been cancelled, and the guy said that no notes had even been made, and after I couldn't verify the address, he wouldn't tell me anything. So this phone is now being shipped to Peckham, he wouldn't even freeze it until ID and address was confirmed.

Tell me what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sarahsm80]

Get on a plane back here.

Weather is nice as well

In all seriousness, I would either speak to the fraud team at VF again or wait for a mod to come on and help you. They will send u a PM. I had money stolen from my account last year and it was sorted in a week.

[Fraud_victim]

Ok, he wouldn't even verify my account as he didn't believe it was me, not till I go to a store with ID.

He wouldn't even freeze the order till it was sorted, crazy.

I couldn't report it to fraud because I couldn't access my account, so it hasn't even been reported yet, not till I go to a store, which can't happen for 3 weeks.... any suggestions??

[Simon]

Hi Fraud_victim

Thanks for your post. I can appreciate how frustrating this can be having been a victim of fraud myself in the past with another company. Without reviewing the facts I'm unable to comment on the reason why you were unable to register this as fraudulent activity on your account, however please bear in mind that there will be stringent checks on the account to confirm the account holder is the correct person we're speaking to where the suspicion of fraud has taken place.

That said, we'll do all that we can to help you. We've handled a number of these cases and we're certainly in the best position to offer help and advice. I've sent a private message with details of how to contact us directly. 

You can find your PM inbox here. If you can't access this link, please ensure that the box next to "Turn on private messages" is ticked on this page, and let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks

Simon

[fabjodo13]

PLEASE SOMEONE FROM VODAFONE HELP ME ASAP

I am sure I am also victim of the same fraud as have received a text message and an email from vodafone informing me of my upgrade and that "my order" will be shipped by DPD tomorrow. The address is also mentioned and it not mine! Of course I have not upgraded.

When I log into my account online I can see that an upgrade has actually taken place and my price plan has changed to a much more expensive one.

Can please anyone tell me what to do now? I have read many of the previous posts here and there not seem to be a quick solution.

Any help advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Pateldaku]

Contact Vodafone first thing in the morning on 191.
Also if you have the tracking number contact DPD and advise them not to deliver the item as it is a Fraud.

[fabjodo13]

Thanks a lot Pateldaku for the prompt reply.

I have called vodafone and they seemed to have believed me straight away and stopped the order.

They are also opening a fraud incident for investigation.

They say the upgrade has taken place via the internet and that is why the fraudster managed to avoid the security questions. In my opinion this is unacceptable as it is also unacceptable that noone from vodafone contacted me on my mobile phone to confirm the order and my details.

I also called the police which was useless saying that I am not the victim of the fraud but vodafone is and they will need to report it. I told the officer I do not agree with him as it is me being exposed to a financial loss.

He advised to register with CIFAS and check my credit report with Experian.

[Jenny]

Hi fabjojo13,

Just to confirm that I am calling from Vodafone.

Thanks,

Jenny 

[zAndy1]

I received 2 emails last night from DPD advising me that my Vodafone order would be delivered today the 12th March, of course I never ordered anything and on checking my account online it became clear 3 new lines had been added to my account @ £39.95 each per month. The DPD emails had a link on to change the delivery date so I promptly changed the date to this Thursday to give me some time to sort things out. Rang Vodafone first thing this morning who told me someone had called yesterday to upgrade with 3 new iPhone 5 lines, needless to say I was shocked and quite frankly staggered as to how this could have happened. I asked how this could have happened assuming the person that called presumably didn't know the pin number on the account or password and was told as long as the caller gives the right name , address and DOB that was all that was required. I checked the DPD tracking this morning and could see the delivery date had been changed to the 13th so I rang DPD and basically told them not to deliver the 3 packages as they had been ordered fraudulently which they promptly acted upon and the tracking now shows that the phones are being returned to the sender. DPD did say that somebody had called them just after 9am asking if they could collect the packages from the depot today, obviously prompted by the fact I'd changed the delivery date to Thursday. What I find staggering in all this is that this is obviously going on quite a lot but would seem to be pretty easy to catch the people involved after all Vodafone have the addresses the phones are being delivered to (which in my case was 2 different addresses somewhere in London about 200 miles from my home address!). I am dumbfounded that somebody can ring up, presumably not know the password or pin number on the account, add 3 new lines to my account and ask for the phones to be delivered to 2 desperate addresses nowhere near the address on the account, how the hell did this not seem suspicious?! And why don't Vodafone take the simple step of ringing the account holder on their existing number if somebody rings up wanting to add 3 new lines to an account I mean surely just taking that simple precaution would save a lot of people a lot of hassle and Vodafone a lot of money in stolen phones...
I have been advised I will incur no costs as a result of this, we shall see but luckily I caught it early before the phones could be delivered otherwise who knows what sort of mess it could of resulted in. Definitely lessons to be learnt here Vodafone and because of this I will be leaving Vodafone at the earliest opportunity. Unbelievable

[fabjodo13]

I have a very strong suspect that this was the same person who tried the same trick with me. Exactly the same delivery date. I also moved the delivery date to thursday right away and rang vodafone at 8am this morning. The delivery address is somewhere in east London and I am shocked that the police did not even want to hear about this.

Like you, I am also disappointed in Vodafone. Although they told me that the fraudster ordered via internet, after what you say, I am no longer so sure they told me the truth. And even if that was true the fact that they did not ensure that the oder was sent to the right person via a simple phone call, remains unacceptable.

I have always been asked for my pin number among other things when calling vodafone and I do not see how a fraudsyer can know my pin number which is not written anywhere unless he works for vodafone himself or somehow  hacked their system.

Another question is how did the guy know that packages are shipped via DPD, and how did he know the consignment number if the confirmation email for tracking purposes is sent to the account holder?

[zAndy1]

DPD send texts with tracking info etc on, they must have given that number when they ordered for the text updates I assume. It would be so easy to catch these people in the act I mean Vodafone know where the perpetrators are going to be (the delivery address ) or just have someone there at the courier depot when they go to collect it if they go down that route , hardly rocket science is it...

[Dave]

Hi zAndy1 and fabjodo13,

Rest assured we do take security on accounts very seriously. Any cases passed to our Fraud team are investigated and we use these to help the police in any investigations.

If someone orders online, they need your username and password you have registered for My Account. If you have added a password to your account then any caller will be asked for this on top of the usual details. We'd always recommend setting up the PIN number as well if you haven't already as we'll look to check this and it is down to personal choice.

With regards to alternate addresses, this facility is in place for customers who would not be able to be at home when the phone is to be delivered. This allows them to request delivery to work addresses, holiday addresses or alternate locations where it can be signed for and collected. This is why different addresses would not automatically cause concern.

If any charges are incurred by fraudulent activity then these are removed from the account to make sure that you are not out of pocket. We'd advise changing your PIN and password to "refresh" your security in case anyone has found these details out in any way.

It looks like you've both called into customer services and reported this already so this will already be in hand. If there is anything you want to check, such as fabjodo13 possibly wanting to double-check the order was placed online, then follow the steps in my PM.

You can find your PM inbox here. If you can't access this link, please ensure that the box next to "Turn on private messages" is ticked on this page, and let us know if you need any further assistance.

Dave

[zAndy1]

Just wanted to update this thread to say that I haven't been contacted by the Fraud team or anybody else within the 3 day timescale I was given on Tuesday morning and have since received 3 seperate invoices from Vodafone for £173.95 each for Iphone 5 64GB Black phones. Right now as you can probably understand I am absolutely fuming. I am about ready to cancel my direct debit because there is no way on earth I am allowing Vodafone to take this money off me, I didn't order the phones and I aren't paying for them, end of story.

[fabjodo13]

well, I am not surprised..my online account is still showing my "new" price plan and reminds me that I cannot upgrade until 2015 because I have just upgraded..)

[Sukhi]

Hi zAndy1

Apologies you've not been contacted as of yet. I've been unable to find your email, can you confirm you replied to the private message Dave sent? If not could you reply back to my PM and I'll be in touch as soon as I can.

fabjodo13 - I'm unable to find your reply either. I've sent you a PM too.

You can find your PM inbox here. 

Thanks

Sukhi