In early March, I called my mobile network O2 to see if I could get a better deal on my £9-a-month SIM-only contract. I couldn’t, so I asked to leave.
But the next day I received a call from what I thought was the O2 customer retention department. I was slightly distracted as I was visiting an elderly relative at the time.
The person told me that as a customer of 15 years, I could get a ‘loyalty bonus’ which would cut my bill to £6. I agreed and went through security questions.
They then told me that I could get a free iPhone 14 – which was when alarm bells started to ring. I told them I was not continuing with the deal and hung up.
Conned: Our reader was pleased when her network changed its mind about giving her a cheaper deal – but then talk of a free iPhone proved a red flag
I called O2 customer service and was told I had been scammed.
This person had logged into my account using the information I gave them, ordered a new iPhone for £1,750 and set up an £89 per month contract.
It was all done in my name, but the address on my account had been changed to that of the fraudster in a different part of the country so the phone would go there.
O2 said I’d get a call from its fraud investigators, and in the meantime it would put a lock on the phone and my account. But by the time I got the call, the iPhone was already on its way.
The parcel company, DPD, wouldn’t let me cancel it. I called O2 and it said it would sort it, but it hasn’t – so I just kept asking DPD to delay the delivery for a week.
But a couple of weeks ago, I was emailed an image of it being dropped on the scammers’ doormat.
I’m worried I will be cut off or get a poor credit rating. I’m having sleepless nights and am sick with the whole situation. L.H, via email
Helen Crane of This is Money replies: I’m sorry to hear this happened. You told me you used to work in the police force, and were embarrassed that you didn’t spot that this was a scam straight away.
But rather than being embarrassing for you, I’d argue that this shows just how sophisticated fraudsters have become. They also tend to change their tactics as soon as people start to suss them out.
You’d also made a perfectly legitimate call to O2 the day before – so someone calling you back to offer you a better deal wasn’t initially a red flag.
It didn’t take long for you to cotton on to what was happening, though.
The scammer’s offer of a free iPhone – and the latest model at that – was clearly too good to be true.
If that wasn’t enough, they also told you you would get some emails about this iPhone – but that you should ignore them.
These would have been the emails you received telling you the iPhone was being delivered… to an address halfway across the country. No wonder the scammer didn’t want you to pick them up.
How was this able to happen? I spoke to O2 about this, and it gave me lots of useful information which I think will help others avoid being a victim – so I will try to explain.
First, you said the person who called you already had your name and address. Unfortunately there are millions of data breaches each year – but how do the fraudsters get those details?
O2 told me that international organised crime gangs often buy tens of thousands of customer details in bulk on the dark web in order to facilitate their scams, employing people to call victims in the UK day in, day out.

Expensive taste: The scammer ordered a brand new iPhone 14 costing £1,750 – using our reader’s account
It’s impossible to know where your details were leaked from. It could be any one of the no doubt hundreds of organisations that have access to your name, address and telephone number. This particular scam happens to mobile phone customers across all networks.
The next question is how the fraudster was able to access your O2 account online and order the pricey phone.
The key piece of information here is the one-time passcode – the number that you received in a text message while you were on the phone to the fraudster and then read back. It is also known as a one-time activation code.
These are used by retailers to confirm someone is who they say they are when placing an order online. If you hadn’t read it out to the scammer, they wouldn’t have been able to complete the purchase of the phone.
O2 said it sends a warning message to all customers immediately before they are sent the one-time passcode, telling them not to give it out to anyone over the phone.
But you didn’t see this message until it was too late, as you were on the phone and didn’t see the first message flash up – only the second one containing the passcode.
You were worried you might accidentally hang up the phone if you opened the message in full, so you just read it out from the preview that flashed up.
The important thing to remember is that legitimate callers will never ask for one-time passcodes, passwords or PINs, or personal information like your bank details.
If you are unsure at any point, it is perfectly OK to hang up, find the official number for the firm and call them back.
One thing O2 wasn’t so keen to explain was why it took so long to cancel the delivery of the iPhone, and to wipe the charges from your account.
After all, you were on the phone to the real O2 just minutes after you ended the call with the scammer.
You were told verbally that you didn’t need to pay, but constantly trying to cancel the delivery was stressful and seeing a £1,750 debt under your name left you losing sleep over a potential bad credit rating.

Too late: Our reader asked O2 to cancel the order, but it had already arrived at DPD’s depot
Since I contacted O2, it has assured me that the debt has now been completely written off and cleared from your file.
But I still think O2 could have done a lot better here, and I’m surprised it didn’t offer you any compensation.
You’re happy to admit that giving the passcode away was your mistake, but you feel that you gave O2 every opportunity to deal with this swiftly and it failed to do so.
It could have stopped the order of the phone minutes after it was made, but instead you were left worrying for weeks.
You have since voted with your feet and moved to another network.
You may also want to consider reporting this to Action Fraud.
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: ‘We have taken action to close the fraudulent account taken out in this customer’s name and wipe the debt.
‘If you receive a call offering a deal which sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
‘Our agents will never call you to ask for your one-time passcode over the phone so never share it with an unexpected caller, no matter how legitimate they seem.’
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