Someone phones to help fix a problem with your broadband and then they offer you a refund for the problems you’ve had. Sound too good to be true? Sadly, it is.
A Which? member told us: I had a call from someone who said he was phoning from TalkTalk to sort out a problem with my broadband. The caller seemed genuine as he had my name, address and account number.
After accessing my PC remotely, he said I was entitled to a refund of £200 for the problems I’d had. Using remote access software, he directed me to my Santander online bank account, where it appeared that he had credited £5,000 into my account in error.
The caller told me to send the money back, which I did using MoneyGram. But I have since found out that it was a scam. He had directed me to a copycat website. Is there anything I can do?
What we said about the ‘TalkTalk’ phone scam
We say: It’s a common tactic for fraudsters to try and convince people they work for a telecoms provider, but TalkTalk customers need to be especially vigilant.
The company had a wealth of customer data, including names, addresses and account numbers, stolen at the end of last year, so scammers may have more ammunition to convince people their call is genuine.
TalkTalk told us it was aware of this type of phone scam, but was unable to refund your lost money as it was not involved.
Your bank, Santander, also said there was nothing it could do as it was not involved in the transfer.
The Information Commissioner’s Office told us that the TalkTalk data breach ‘has been reported and we are making enquiries… [but] can’t comment at this stage’.
TalkTalk told us: ‘We take our customers’ security seriously, although we know a small number of customers are being targeted by phone scammers, using a limited amount of customer data that was accessed illegally.
‘No sensitive information, like bank account or credit card details, was accessed. We have written to all our customers twice to warn them about phone scams, and we are working with other telecoms companies and banks to raise awareness.’
Have you been contacted by a scam similar to this? Did you lose any money?
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