topic Re: Possible Identity Theft scam in Account and services

Possible Identity Theft scam

Tramontana — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 18:14:30 GMT

Today I received a call from someone claiming to be from Three, offering to sign me up for a 45% discount on my bills. I went along with it, being careful not to supply information like bank account details. The caller didn't need this information as he already had it and read it out to me. He also told me how much my most recent bill was and my address and postcode. Most of this information can only be obtained by accessing my account

I was perhaps foolish in going along with the offer. He gave me his contact number and requested a £30 activation fee for setting up the new direct debit. My phone received an active card check from Three. I provided my credit card details and a payment was taken, also by Three. When I check my account I see the £30 is sitting there as a credit.

A couple of hours later I had another call from the number given by the first caller but from a different person, regarding a pack of legal documents that they said would be sent to me. When I started asking further questions they closed the call rather hurriedly.

It seems to me this might be an elaborate scam to persuade me to sign some document when it arrives by post. Is this likely?

So - a whole raft of questions. How did these people get details held by Three? How did they cause Three to do an active card check? Has there been a data breach in the last 5 years (since I signed up with Three)? When I ask Three these questions on their on-line chat they avoid answering directly and in one case they closed the chat and logged me out.

I saw a post from another user reporting a similar experience. Can anyone throw light on this?

I have changed my password and am contacting ActionFraud to see what other actions I may need to take.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Tramontana — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 20:05:32 GMT

More on the above: I see my account says I have ordered an iPhone, a Galaxy and a smart watch. I will be cancelling this order as soon as the lines open again tomorrow, but it still means someone has hacked into my account.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

PeteG — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:51:30 GMT

Hello.

It's disappointing to hear you've been contacted like this. These scammers can be pretty relentless sometimes.

We can't advise you on how your details were obtained, i's not information we hold. We do have some useful general advice on what to look out for and how to be safer. Check our page here for that.

We recommend letting the team here know that you were contacted and that you did give away some personal details relating to the account. This can be logged on the account, and the team can also check things over to ensure the account doesn't have any unexpected actions on it.

Pete.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Mariia — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:24:56 GMT

I had the same call today. Once I received a link to change my pw I hanged off as I understood what they wanna to do. They are providing you pw - three100001.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Benjo94 — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 12:29:21 GMT

I have just received the exact same call. He offered the same as yourself and asked me to confirm my email which I did. He then asked me to spell my email which I refused as they should have it on file, the call then abruptly ended.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

DOI209 — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 10:43:44 GMT

I had a similar call on 7 September. 50% off a new 12 month contract and free Apple watch. They 'confirmed' my account balance and contract date ( I gave them wrong information ). They sent a link asking to enter a new password ( I refused ). Very persistent but I hung up on her. The phone no was 0121 8186271 and others have recognised this as a scam. It was not 0333 number.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

JonathanB — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 11:15:30 GMT

Hi @DOI209,

Thanks for helping raise awareness about these scams, and glad to hear you caught on to what was happening without giving any info away to them. You can find more advice about fraud, spam, and scams and how to report them on our Fraud to watch out for page here.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Afaq — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:45:32 GMT

Same happened to me. They provide me same password.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

JonathanB — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:41:46 GMT

Hi @Afaq,

Thanks for helping raise awareness about this. We definitely wouldn't prompt you to change your My3 password to a specific password of our choice. We wouldn't ever ask you to share your My3 password either. There's more advice on how to report scams here.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

KentTree — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 19:28:48 GMT

I've just had the same, apparently from a number in Sunderland. When I told the Indian guy that he should already have my email when he asked for it, he promptly hung up.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Openside_07 — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 11:16:47 GMT

I have just had a phone call offering 45% discount on my Three contract, the number they used (01913499187) traced back to the "Central Oven & Pizza" a bona fide business in Newcastle upon Tyne. His accent certainly wasn't Geordie, more like Indian, when I mentioned I'd just been woken up from a rather long night shift on undercover duties, the line went dead rather quickly. I've passed the number onto some acquaintances within the Northumbria Police fraud prevention team.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

JonathanB — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 14:26:26 GMT

Hi @Openside_07,

Thanks for helping raise awareness about this. The scammers will be "spoofing" most likely, software can be used to alter the caller ID, and most scam calls will generally appear to be coming from a UK number these days, although the criminals won't really be using the corresponding phone line.

There's more info about this, other common fraud, and how to report them on our fraud to watch out for page.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

LizzieC — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 10:39:58 GMT

I received a similar call they didn't seem to have any of my personal details but when they asked me to log in to my account and put in a temporary password, that they provided, I ended the call as it raised suspicion.

It would be nice to have some clarification from three.

I have been with three for a long time but am considering changing, due to possible undisclosed breaches, issues with the signal and some unsatisfactory service at one of the stores.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

JadeF — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:08:05 GMT

Hey there.

Can you tell us the number that called you? This definitely doesn't sound like us and would never ask you to provide information of this nature.

You can find more information on these type of calls and common fraud here.

Thanks, Jade

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Carolq — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 08:57:17 GMT

Just had a call from 07********* offering me a 45% discount on my Three account. He knew the amount of my monthly bill. He asked for my email so he could send me details and got very annoyed when I told him he should have them, so I hung up.

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

JonathanB — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 09:04:18 GMT

Hi @Carolq,

Thanks for helping raise awareness about this, and glad to hear that you spotted the scam for what it was. We need to removed the phone number from the post, as there's a good chance it's a "spoof" and the fraudster was faking the caller ID to make it look like they were calling from the UK.

You can find more advice about fraud, spam, and scams and how to report them on our Fraud to watch out for page here. The best thing to do is report calls from numbers claiming to be Three beginning 01, 02, or 07 to the 7726 number, as we don't use standard landlines or mobiles to contact customers.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

Paul122 — Wed, 21 May 2025 10:59:31 GMT

Just had the same call he asked for my email address when I told him I wasn’t comfortable going it over the phone he hung up is this a scam or not??

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

JonathanB — Thu, 22 May 2025 14:49:45 GMT

Hi @Paul122,

If it's a similar situation to what the OP has described, this certainly sounds like a scam. There's a few indicators. If the caller was ringing from a number beginning 01, 02, or 07 then it's definitely not us.

In the original example an "activation fee" was described, that's not a term we'd use. Device plans have upfront payments, but they're towards the value of a phone, not an admin fee.

45% sounds like a great discount, but is quite unlikely for us to offer something like this. You'll often find that this would mean the customer isn't even paying the RRP of the phone over the 2-3 years, so it doesn't make much sense.

I'm not clear on how much of this was relevant to the call you received, but that's a few general red flags from the original post.

For more advice on recognising scams and how to report them check out the Fraud to watch out for page here.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

AG12 — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 15:04:50 GMT

Hello,

I received the same call from this No.- 07*********

Re: Possible Identity Theft scam

J-Lew — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:31:24 GMT

I had the same today - exactly the same MO as you describe.