My wife was called on friday and they said they were from orange and would she like an upgrade, she did as her phone was playing up and she was out of contract. She agreed to a 24 months contract and gave some details such as address, date of birth etc. Today she called orange to discuss the upgrade and they have no idea about it and they did not call. They said it was probably a 3rd party company trying to get her to sign up but she gave no bank details so how could that be? We are worried that they could have just been after info for identity theft. Has anybody got any info about this or experience etc? She has called the bank to warn them and nothing looks dodgy and has called action fraud to report it. Is this a known Scam? Cheers

I am on Orange and had a number of similar calls as my contract is up for renewal. Basically they seem to be 3rd party providers trying to get your business – they purport to be calling from Orange but when they asked me how much my I was paying on my current contract (Orange would obviously know this) I smelt a rat and asked them who they were. They were also offering me a phone which wasn’t really and improvement on my current phone. There should be a cooling off period so you could end any contract your wife signed. I think this is fairly common practice in the mobile market.

Cheers philby, I don’t understand how they get the business though as they did not ask for any bank details so to set up an account surely they have to use the existing orange contract and orange must be aware of this. Really confused about it and my wife has not signed anything but agreed to it on the phone but she thought they were orange. The phone was meant to be here today but has not arrived. The number was blocked so we can’t even find out which 3rd party it was and contact them. She feels very silly too and is very upset about being scammed.

Not the same scam but someone used my dads info to aquire a Vodaphone contract either over the phone or online. They sign up as you but not with your bank account details, then run up a £3k bill in a very short period! They then change the contract to sim only!!

After receiving red letters and then a debt recovery notice we managed to find a name to contact at Vodaphone and sent a letter we got from CAB and local police who were both very helpfull. The issue was eventually acted by Vodaphone as fraudulent and we have heard no more 😆

I called the number before Vodaphone cancelled it and the voice on the other end was Asian! I suggested to Vodaphone they do the same and if it was not a very angry, elderly Scotsman on the end of the line then they should know that it was not my dad!

How did they get his details? I have my suspicions that it coincided with him being hospitalised just weeks beforehand! Due to his and my mothers ill health he had not been anywhere for some time.

Report this to the police and maybe consumer protection. Did you get a phone number?

I used to get spammed by Orange all the time, both text and calls, by dealers trying to get me to upgrade. It continued for nearly two years after I left Orange for O2, and ported my number across. Used to drive me nuts, and by the end I was getting very aggressive when I got such calls, sometimes three or four across a couple of days, my reply usually along the lines of; “I’m not on Orange, I’m on O2, and have been for nearly two years, now piss off!”. 😀

You’ll probably find its nothing more sinister than a 3rd party company employed by Orange to do retention.

The 3rd party is given a list of customers who’re close to end of contract, and have the job of keeping the business with Orange. As these 3rd parties are often employed for shortish periods themselves, the main body of the business doesn’t always get to hear about it.

I wouldn’t worry too much.

I had phones4u call me saying they were O2 until I asked them if they were really O2.

I thought this was going to be about shocks,brakes and wider bars 😆

I had a similar call a few weeks ago claiming to be from orange and offering a free iPad if I upgraded. They didn’t tell me till further into the call that the free iPad came wins going to cost me £30 per month 24 month contract on top of my £26 p/m phone contract.
You gotta be careful as these people have a way of making things sound better than they really are.

I had a call today from ‘Orange Departments’ about an upgrade. When I asked if she was from actual Orange she yes yes ‘Orange Departments’. I asked her name and said I was reporting them to the TPS at which point she hung up. Works every time.

Yes I’ve asked Vodafone to stop my number being accessed by third parties. Quite annoying but I do like it when they start asking for security details:

I never acknowledge my identity for starters. I state I won’t be passing any details as it’s an unsolicited call. Then I start asking them some security questions….

Very quickly we agree it’s not going anywhere and I don’t hear back from them.

I’m actually looking forward to the next Microsoft scam as I think there’s fun to be had there!!