If you receive a phone from three you didn't order and you are asked to return it, it is a scam

[andreapisauro]

about a month and half ago, I received a call from someone pretending to be a 3 representatives and offering me deals. I occasionally receive calls like this from 3 so it didn't sound suspicious. After telling him that I did not want to upgrade my phone, he offered me a sim only deal slightly cheaper than what I was paying now. So I said I was interested. I don't remember what exactly happened but I believe I asked to make an order for this sim only deal. I was told I would receive the sim the following day.

The following day I got a call in the morning from the same number advising me that a package with a new sim would arrive in the afternoon. Later in the afternoon a package from three arrived and it included a sim and an iphone. I was surprised as I never ordered the iphone. Shortly afterwards, the same guy called me again saying the iphone was delivered by mistake and whether he could arrange someone to pick it up. I said I wouldn't be home and then I was told I would receive a QR label and if I could please send the iphone through the post office. I received the QR label through a whatsapp number called three.co.uk.

I genuinely believed the error was real as the delivery was indeed from Three and it happened at the time I was supposed to receive the new sim. The guy on the phone looked like a somewhat incompetent employee eager to sort out his own mess. So I complied and send back the iphone through the QR label.

A few days later I logged onto my account and saw an iphone package. I recognised it was linked to the delivery I received and I immediately contacted three customer service which therefore detected the fraud.

The thing that worried me particularly was that whoever called me had access to my three account and could order the iphone that I received and then sent back to the fraudster.

Be aware that if you receive a phone you didn't order, it is likely to be a fraud.

[KateS]

Hey @Donnachie,

I'm really sorry to hear you've been a victim of fraud and understand how worrying this must be.

You can either refuse the delivery from DPD or accept it and we can arrange a return of the device.

Can I check, have you raised this with our teams? We'll need to open a fraud investigation on the account. If not, please follow the steps here by reporting this to Action Fraud, then get in contact with our Customer Service teams. 

Thanks,
Kate

[Psullivan1]

Hi this has happened to me, I’ve frozen bank account, and spoken to the royal mail worker who collected the phone.

who should I speak to about this?

[KateS]

Hey @Psullivan1,

I'm sorry to hear you've been a victim of fraud.

We have a step-by-step for reporting a problem which you can follow. Please complete steps 1-4 then reach out to our Customer Service team and we'll raise an investigation to our Fraud and Security teams.

I hope this helps,

Kate

[RocketMan]

Exact thing happened to me today. 

G.M

[Mike2024]

Three could easily stop this type of scam by texting the order details to a customers phone before the order is dispatched. 

I would suggest you contact Three by Webchat only and download the conversations so you have a record.  My case is still not sorted after 3 months, I'm being told not to pay anything by one department and that I must pay urgently or else by another department..

[Mike2024]

Over 8 weeks now and still not resolved. At least the overdue payment messages have stopped - one woke me up at 2am! All the way through it's been 'don't worry we just need a few more days to investigate'. Last Sunday it changed to 'it will be definitely all be sorted within 72 hours' and I thought 'great!'.  But no, it's now back to 'just another few days'.

So I'm resigned to having to contact the FCA and the Ombudsman next weekend and tell them the whole story.

This is a very common scam apparently - as detailed above the scammer has you on the phone whilst going onto the Three webchat. This allows them to get past Three security by just asking you for whatever the Three advisor is asking him. He requests an email address change and then places the order. The order confirmation goes to the scammers email address and you know nothing about it.

However, it would seem a really obvious thing to do so I'm not sure why Three don't do it - if a confirmation of the order was also sent to the customers phone then the scam would be immediately stopped in it's tracks. The customer would learn that an order for an iPhone or whatever had been placed and given the option to click to confirm or contact Three. The scammer would not be able to stop this communication.

Problem solved, scam stopped, all sorted. So why doesn't that happen? Can only assume there must be a technical reason but I will be asking the Ombudsman why this additional security isn't being implemented to further protect Three customers.

Will post here any responses I get.

Finally, just to say that despite all this I am still a loyal Three customer! I have another Three account which I've had for nearly 20 years and have just renewed. Very happy with the service and friendly customer support - it's just that the system itself needs adjusted for situations like this. One major issue is that with all the many Three advisors I've spoken to I have had to explain the whole thing from scratch each time - very stressful for me but also an incredible waste of Three's time.

[Anonymous]

Without taking sides,one part of your post resonated with me more than others. The fact that nobody seems to take ownership of your issue and you can be put on the advisor merry go round,telling the same tale of woe a multitude of times.Can totally identify with that. 

I genuinely wish you good luck getting things sorted.

[Mike2024]

Yes it would be better if one advisor handled the case from start to finish, that would also be much more efficient for Three.

One other thing i didn't mention which is also very stressful - I must have had about 10 texts from Three over the past few weeks, including one today, which all say 'Your query is now closed'. With absolutely no explanation of what it means and nothing mentioned on the account.

[JonathanB]

Hi @Mike2024,

That's really disappointing to hear about your experiences in obtaining support and updates regarding this.

In case there's still no progress, I'll send you a PM to get you in touch with some more help.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Mike2024]

Thanks Jonathan