Validate it is Vodafone

[jonb]

OK, had an odd experience today.

I work for a large international organisations, with offices on many countries. Today i get a call from one of the salespeople in one of our European office, along the lines of  "Jon, had a call to our office line from XXXX YYYY saying she is from Vodafone and must get hold of you in relation to your account, and demanded I give her your number"

Now, the salesperson is not stupid (they rarely are, even if sometimes they give that impression :)), so refused to provide any information.

Clearly this is some sort of scam. Why would Vodafone ask for my number? They have it, and an alternate contact number. Why would they rig this specific European office? Whilst i have been to the country in question a couple of times recently, i have not publicised this to my knowledge, i never actually went to your offices there, and i have never given out the office phone number, or even ever rang myself .

Now,. anyone looking at some of my recent posts will know i am in discussion with Vodafone in relation to recent events. and Vodafone have asked me to provide bank details as part of the security checks, though i refuse to provide bank details as part pf the security process.

So, how do i confirm it is actually Vodafone contacting me if/when they ring? They expect me to go through their security checks, but when they ring me, will they entertain going through my checks to confirm their identity before i confirm mine? it will be interesting to find out

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi

Is-it-Vodafone-calling.

All the numbers Vodafone use are in the above link. 

[AnnS]

Hi @jonb

As you were sent a PM in your other thread asking for your account details, if you replied back, this will be the Team here on the forum responding to you in order to clear up the issues with your account.

They usually leave a brief message explaining they are from the forum and will call back within the next half hour.

If you are able to answer the phone, they take customers security seriously.   As well as making sure you pass data protection, they will also confirm they are calling from Vodafone.

[Anonymous]

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@AnnS wrote:

Hi @jonb

As you were sent a PM in your other thread asking for your account details, if you replied back, this will be the Team here on the forum responding to you in order to clear up the issues with your account.

They usually leave a brief message explaining they are from the forum and will call back within the next half hour.

If you are able to answer the phone, they take customers security seriously.   As well as making sure you pass data protection, they will also confirm they are calling from Vodafone.

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@jonb,

As Ann said, the team here will call you on the number(s) you gave them in your reply.  However if this person rang some random office in your organisation rather than one of the numbers you gave then it's reasonable to assume that either a) it's some sort of scam or b) the person who called is from some other Vodafone team and cba to look up the correct number(s) before calling.

[jonb]

Thanks all, but I think you are missing the point here. 

Vodafone expect  me to prove who I am. if I have phoned them, or if they have phone me. This is understandable and good.

However, when someone phones me I am supposed to just take their word by them stating that they are from Vodafone (which anyone could say), or by looking up the number they have called from (which I may not easily be able to do at the time they ring, and which could be spoofed anyway).

By that argument I should pass the security check by simply stating I am myself, and/or Vodafone checking the number I am dialling from is my mobile number.

Vodafone asking me security questions does not guarantee anything: “Hello this is Vodafone. To pass security please provide me the 1st and 3rd number of your PIN”. To which I say “1 and 3”, oops the line gets dropped. They phone me back “Sorry sir, you will need to re-pass security, please provide the 2nd and 4th number of your PIN” So I give these as “2 and 4”. Now someone has my 4 digit PIN (and no, my PIN is not 1234 :))

Recently I have been asked when I have contacted Vodafone to provide bank details as part of the security process. But if Vodafone are asking for this information, and refuse to continue until I have provided it, then a precedence is being set, which could be exploited by others.

I can see no possible way the person who phoned the land-line of one of our Europe offices could have been from Vodafone. Vodafone have my number, and have an alternate number. The number this person rang on is not a number I have ever rang myself or even know. Yet she phoned after I had received the text message from Vodafone saying they (different name) would be ringing, and before that person named in that text actually did ring me. I could not take the call to my mobile which was actually from Vodafone, as I was on the other line to the sales person who was informing me of the call asking for me.

Maybe it is pure coincidence, but a rather strange one given the timing.

However, If Vodafone are serious about their customers security (or ex-customer in my case), there should not be any issue confirming their own identity in a more secure way than saying “I am from Vodafone”.

[hrym]

I'm with you on that.  If I'm cold called, I explain that, no, it's not up to me to verify myself.   From time to time, I get offers from my ISP and they're ready for this and offer to send me an email, where I can check the address of the sender.   Obviously, there are some very clever spoofs around (often using hidden Unicode characters), but it's better than nothing.   I've seen it suggested that there could be a password that you can ask the caller to give you, but even that's vulnerable to a hack.

The obvious answer is to call back on a number you know (and using a different line to the one the call came in on), but that can be tricky in a large organisation that has multiple offices and switchboards.

Be highly suspicious of any cold call and never give any information if you're in any doubt.   And if that means always hanging up well, so be it.

[Nabs]

@jonb I have a PIN set on my Vodafone account which I can ask them to provide should I need to verify who is calling me. 
I've not had a call from them in a long time so I'm not sure if that feature is still available, worth getting in touch (via the eForum team or live chat) to see if it could be done on your account 

[JohnJ]

@jonb If you did need a hand with your account, we'd be happy to help through email. 

I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch, please specify that you'd only like to be contacted via email.

Once you've done this a member of the team will be in touch.

[jonb]

@JohnJ 

 [EDITED - opps, pressed Post too quickly]

Thanks, but a) I have no desire to contact Vodafone unless i really have to, i find the majority of contacts last between 30-60 mins and achieve very little, if anything other than raising my blood pressure

b) I have now left Vodafone - though Vodafone clearly do not want me to go as they have so far failed to do a single thing correctly in wrapping up my account

c) Whilst i am sure you mean well, any changes to my account in its death throes will probably only make things worse

[JohnJ]

@jonb Please let us know if you need anything further from us and we'll be help to help you 🙂