topic Fraudulent Google Play Transactions in Contracts & Billing

Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:46:46 GMT

My phone was stolen on Saturday March 5th, and over the next 10 minutes or so they racked up £239.51 of charges over 19 Google Play transactions. They were not made on my own Google account. I went into an EE store to get a replacement SIM on the Monday and told them that my phone had been stolen. I did not discover the charges until today when my bank notified me of the upcoming direct debit.

I have tried contacting Google Support and they directed me to a form to report these transactions, but they require a Correlation ID. I cannot find any information on this and all the support agent would tell me is "Your carrier will provide this". Any help either getting the Correlation ID or disputing these charges with EE would be much appreciated.

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

James_B — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 06:51:44 GMT

Hi @literallyJoel,

Welcome to the EE Community.

I'm very sorry to hear your phone was stolen. Our Customer Care Team can access your account to view any charges that have been made to your bill.

They'll be happy to help if you get in touch.

James

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

Northerner — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 09:34:57 GMT

Hi @literallyJoel

Ask your bank to cancel these charges as they're fraudulent.

Also ensure your play account is password/biometric protected protected in future (Settings - authentication ) in the play app. I would also recommend changing your Google password and setting up two stage authentication.

Thanks

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

Chris_B — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 09:44:53 GMT

@literallyJoel Next to each transaction on your Google account will have a ID number this is what they’re asking for

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:46:05 GMT

They didn't make the charges on my google play account. They stole my phone, took my SIM card out of the phone, and then used in their phone with their google account to charge to my mobile bill (I have now set up a SIM pin to be safe in future). I wasn't even really aware this was a thing that can be done and it seems really insecure that all they needed was my SIM card. (Whilst I understand SIM pins do exist to protect against this, it's not the most widely advertised thing and I recon most people do not have one).

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 10:47:04 GMT

The transactions were not made on my Google account, they were just made using my stolen SIM card. I tried explaining this to the google support rep and they were adamant that EE would have the correlation ID.

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

James_B — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:17:39 GMT

Hi @literallyJoel,

You've done the right thing in setting up a SIM PIN. It's also best to get in touch to report your phone lost or stolen as soon as possible, so we can cancel your SIM card and blacklist your phone.

Have you contacted Customer Care to see if they can provide the information you need?

James

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:20:13 GMT

Hi James,

I went into an EE store ~36 hours after the phone was stolen (it was stolen at like 4am on a Saturday and given the timings and early Sunday closing it was not possible for me to get to a store on the Sunday) and got a replacement SIM and informed them of what happened and am currently talking to the customer care team. Thanks for all your help 🙂

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

James_B — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:23:29 GMT

No problem @literallyJoel

It's useful to know that you can report your phone lost or stolen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 07953 966 250.

James

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:48:26 GMT

Hi @James_B,

I have since spoken to EE support, and they have confirmed that they have no kind of Correlation ID or unique transaction ID for these charges, but Google insist that EE will provide this. Have you got any advice on how to proceed with this?

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

tmobilefan — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:09:14 GMT

Oh, that sucks ... just wondering if you reported to the police

umm and the other question did you have GPS and wifi enabled extra information like this may help with the credit google is not the easiest to get in contact with you made take a wile

all the best ..

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:26:04 GMT

@tmobilefan I have none of that information as once the phone was stolen, they took the SIM card out of the phone and used it in a different one to make these charges. The phone has a passcode and was locked, and the transactions were made on a different google account so they can't have used my phone. I didn't report it to the police no, in the past it has had literally no value, the police don't do any kind of investigation at all, I only reported it to EE when I went to get a new SIM.

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

James_B — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:54:02 GMT

Hi @literallyJoel,

Have you asked Google support if they can track the transactions via your mobile number?

James

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:58:41 GMT

I've now managed to get the Correlation IDs requested by Google!

Here's how in case someone with the same issue sees this later.

If you have the same issue where Google requires a correlation ID and tells you EE have it:

EE do not have it, Google are wrong. They are actually held by a company that Google uses called Boku.

What you need to do is go to customer.boku.com/login

If you've not used the portal before there'll be a button for "send me a pin", press that, put in your phone number, and then use the PIN they send you to login. It'll then present you with a list of all the transactions and the ID that Google is looking for.

I don't know why Google constantly seems to send people to their mobile providers for the information, but it's Boku - a company that GOOGLE uses - that has it.

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

James_B — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:12:20 GMT

Thanks for sharing your solution @literallyJoel

James

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

tmobilefan — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:19:33 GMT

sorry to hear you lost the conference with the police,

you would have from google the time date and the last location your phone was turned off,

example google device last contacted the network @ 19:51 30 March 2022

unknown device contacted the network @ 20:09 31 march 2022

any active form this time will be requested as a new device on your phone account, a new digital fingerprint will show up on your account

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 14:12:52 GMT

@James_B Yeah no worries. I've seen both on and off this forum several people with the same issue. Google seem to just be routinely lying to people, and I've reported them to the regulator for doing so. But yeah in future, if someone asks you lot about a 'Correlation ID' for Google, you just gotta direct em to the boku page.

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

tmobilefan — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 19:55:40 GMT

Correlation IDs requested by Google!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_UPasLVRRiTIcnVPAh94DSclLUJYgSe7Huszupot7jw/htmlpresent

is this what is referred to as google correlation id? just asking the question

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 20:11:25 GMT

@tmobilefan I think so? It's essentially just another term for a Transaction ID (the payment processor, Boku, referred to it as a Transaction ID rather than a Correlation ID)

Re: Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

DurbanboyUK — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 07:23:13 GMT

I also recommend setting a pin on your sim card, so if it is removed from your phone/device and put in another because you secured the phone, the fraudsters have another problem to crack 😉