Fraudulent Google Play Transactions

literallyJoel · ‎31-03-2022

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.

literallyJoel · ‎31-03-2022

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.

View solution in original post

James_B · ‎31-03-2022

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

Northerner · ‎31-03-2022

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

To contact EE Customer Services dial 150 From your EE mobile or 0800 956 6000 from any other phone. You can call Freephone +44 800 079 8586 on Skype

EE standard opening hours are 8am to 10.30pm every day.

Chris_B · ‎31-03-2022

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

literallyJoel · ‎31-03-2022

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).

literallyJoel · ‎31-03-2022

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.

James_B · ‎31-03-2022

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

literallyJoel · ‎31-03-2022

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 🙂

James_B · ‎31-03-2022

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

literallyJoel · ‎31-03-2022

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?