Dangerous Scam

[Mik77]

Ordered a couple of Three £5 monthly sims. Instead today received an iPhone 15 max pro. Shortly after receiving it the phone rang and someone claiming to be from Three asked if I had received the sims. I said no and explained what I had received and he said yes that is why I'm calling, there was a mix up at the warehouse due to a new employee and he wanted me to send the iphone back to their warehouse at 22 Lumley Road, Skegness.  I googled it and asked on the Three webchat and it appears not to be a genuine Three address. The iPhone shows on my account at £40 monthly. I had given my card details at some point so have alerted the bank and cancelled my card. I think my best option is to return the iPhone to a Three store - nearest 30 miles - and get a receipt.

Am just posting this as a warning to others before I call Police Scotland.

[andreapisauro]

something very similar happened to me just a few days before. It was from someone pretending to be 3 who had access to my account. I described what happened here: https://community.three.co.uk/t5/Account-and-services/If-you-receive-a-phone-from-three-you-didn-t-o...

[JonathanB]

Hey @Mik77,

I'm really sorry to hear about this scam, but glad to hear that you figured things out before they completed the con. There's advice on different types of fraud, scams, and spam here.

You can report the fraud to Action Fraud too, and based on what you've described I'd recommend to double check that customer services have raised the situation with our fraud teams.

Our actual warehouse is in Norwich, and we wouldn't ask a customer to take on delivery costs for returns. We send out prepaid DPD labels by email, or Royal Mail jiffy bags when a phone is to be returned.

Thanks for helping raise awareness about this scam, hopefully this helps others avoid it.

Jonathan

[Mik77]

Last phone number that called to try to persuade me they were genuine - 02032861491

Have informed Police Scotland and they say they will investigate as a google of the above number show there's been other victims. Three should be investigating it too though.

[Anonymous]

If I were you I’d take the phone to a police station when you report what is very clearly a scam (as you’ve said). And thank you for posting as a warning to others. 

[Mik77]

Cheers, I have reported it to Police Scotland. In hindsight I probably wasn't speaking to any Three reps initially but they must have access to Three to put the phone onto my Three account - I received no email confirmation but it shows on there now. Webchat just say to take it to a Three store. I googled the last number - there were several - and it shows up as having scammed others. 02032861491.  Never thought I'd be scammed.. but it was pretty clever!