EE allowed a scammer to sim jack my partner’s mobile number

[bethhill95]

I have raised a very serious complaint regarding my partner’s EE account and sent to phishing@ee.co.uk and abuse@ee.co.U.K. I am tweeting EE and being ignored, chasing that my complaint is being dealt with urgently. Due to a gross violation of GDPR, my partners mobile number was stolen and the scammer received one time password texts that allowed them to steal his email, bank, PayPal accounts and more. They have stolen thousands of pounds from him because of this.

Two days ago, my partner received a text from EE to say this was his one time password, and then another to say this is your new PAC code. He called Ee immediately to report as fraudulent, as he had not contacted EE to amend his provider.

It has transpired after he called Ee to report the fraud that a scammer had been calling for days, trying to access this account. The scammer had failed security checks from vigilant advisors. Unfortunately, the scammer got through to an advisor who disregarded any security checks and allowed the scammer to request a network provider change. Someone at Ee offered a mere £30 credit for this disgusting disregard of any proper checks, and said they’d issue a new number and new contract which would also waiver the £600 leaving fee he was told would incur.

Yesterday, my partner had a text from Lebara welcoming him as a customer. I won’t pretend to understand the logistics of how this scam works, but the end result was that the scammer could receive any texts received. What ensued from this was the scammer used the mobile number to get one time password codes for his banking information, PayPal, emails and more. The scammer changed all of his passwords so he could not access them, and used his finance accounts to make purchases. They made total transactions of thousands of pounds.

Due to the seriousness of this, the police have been contacted and we have reported identity theft. He will need to start again with all his information once his number is reinstated/replaced with a new one and he can access his accounts.

This has had a serious impact on my partners wellbeing. None of my chasers on Twitter are being answered, I assume to cover up your gross negligence of data protection laws. This could have all been avoided had the advisor performed the correct account checks.

He deserves compensation. We will be reporting this to the media.

What we need from you is:

- a response as soon as possible as to what action you are going to take on the back of this
-to advise what you are going to do in the future to prevent this happening to anyone else
-an apology and compensation to my boyfriends account for the damages caused
-an outline of the training conducted with advisors and what your security procedure is
- why you think £30 credit is an acceptable compensation for a breach of data protection
- why no one from EE contacted him to tell him someone was trying to access his details for days

[bethhill95]

Hi James,

I spoke with the manager on shift on Friday who advised I email phishing and abuse and call the police for this situation. We spoke to action fraud at the police and we hope to get replies on those emails as this is due to GDPR failings on EE’s side.

I was told I’d get a call back from complaints in 24-48 working hours, so I shall await that. I will raise online too via the form today.

I appreciate it is the weekend but due to the seriousness of this, we need replies from someone today. Scammer STILL has full access to his mobile number because an advisor at EE sent a PAC code to the scammer to change to Lebara and they are STILL stealing money. Thousands from Klarna last night as they have used the one time texts to get into his emails. Please, please speak to someone and make this stop.

[Chris_B]

@bethhill95  I’ve been think about this last night and there is more to this than EE allowing an account breach.    The scammer has to know who you bank with as you can not just get that from a phone number.  From a phone number they don’t know you use PayPal and they most certainly don’t know  who your email provider is.       Its mostly like they already had a lot of information about your boyfriend.   

[James_B]

Hi @bethhill95,

For an update on the progress of recovering your partners mobile number from the other network, I'd recommend contacting our Customer Care Team directly.

I'm sure you have done this already, but can I check your partner has reported the identity theft to all of their banks and credit card companies? They will be able to freeze all accounts to stop any further transactions being completed.

James

[bethhill95]

I might accept that except EE let him know a scammer had been trying to access his info for days. The advisor didn’t think those account notes were strange, then proceeded to send a PAC code to the scammers phone and didn’t think it odd they wanted to change provider, which incurred a £600 leaving fee?

There is more they could have done and it is their fault this has happened, EE already accepted it was the advisors fault during the call. Deciding to waiver the one time text security code and sending PAC codes to someone knowing there was a fraud notice on the account is unacceptable. We have every right to be annoyed.

[bethhill95]

Hi James,

Yes thank you we have done so.

I will contact customer care. We are just desperate for this to end they are stealing so much and it’s really upsetting.

[James_B]

Hi @bethhill95,

I understand how upsetting this can be. Hopefully no further transactions can be made now the accounts are frozen.

James

[Shuff1]

I read this with interest as this is a mirror image of my experience.

I had previous fraudulent  attempts on my account, but the EE advisor allowed my number to be ported regardless of the promised extra security. The fraudster also used Lebara and then accessed my bank account etc. I wonder if it's the same advisor?

EE's response so far has been a disgrace. There offer to you of £30 is insulting . 

I've raised a complaint via email at customer.  complaints@ee.co.uk and requested call logs etc. I intend to take it to the ombudsman if necessary 

I'd be interested to know how you get on

[Unhappycust92]

Hi

Did you get this resolved? I have gone through something very similar and the response from EE has been disgusting. It’s with the Ombudsman but they’ve already suggested I won’t be compensated. Don’t know how they can get away with this. 

[ian_whitworth]

I have had something similar, i received a text stating a new esim has been ordered, then a few minutes later someone called "claiming to be from EE security", weird was i was away in a foreign country when this happened. (it came from the legit ee text message folder)

the person claiming to be from EE wanted to know if should cancel it, and it was not just an esim but 2 iphone pro 15s in london as well.

the guy sounded british but struggled to pronounce a street name, so i ended up hanging up and calling EE direct and was on the phone for 50 minutes trying t rectify, almost self doubting myself.

i reckon he was probably hoping i would give a 1 time access code then this may happen to me also.

on my account there had been an attempy but no response from security to say they tried calling

[Leanne_T]

Thanks for coming to the community to share your experience @ian_whitworth 

You have done the right thing reporting this to our mobile guides to make them aware of this scam call. 

Please see our Online Security: Avoid and Prevent Scams Help page for advice on scam calls. 

Leanne 🙂