Dear LPG,

For want of something else to do this morning I decided to take a look at some of the oldest posts on the LPG website and I came across one (►►►), that covers a subject that it will do no harm to bring to the surface again, although since July 2017 when it was first posted the parameters have changed somewhat.  I have an experience to relate…

Not so long ago I received a letter from one of the larger mobile phone service providers.  Its message was one of congratulations as they pointed out that the mobile phone I had bought from them was accompanied by very good reviews, added their wish that I enjoyed my new purchase and mentioned that I might like to insure the phone.  The odd thing is that I have had my old mobile phone for years and I have always paid my bills to a completely different telephone service providing company.   This is where I made my first mistake.  I smiled at the thought that they could get it all so wrong and then threw the letter away without giving it a second thought.

About a month or so later I got another official letter which mentioned that I owed them some money. It was not so much that I thought it worth worrying about and as I knew that I have never had any connection to the number, I smiled to myself and passed it off yet again. 

It was the third letter that really worried me.  By the time I received that, I owed a couple of hundred pounds and prosecution was mentioned.  It was only then that I found the number on the letter and phoned them. 

It transpired that they had my name and address although they had none of my bank details which, these days, is very odd because when a company sells a mobile phone it is usually one of the first bits of information they take from a client.

I spent some time on the phone to the telephone company in question, and the police’s action fraud department, and the matter was cleared up.   This all happened a while ago now and, with hindsight, I realise that I should have become more suspicious a lot earlier than I did. In the end it was easily dealt with, but it could have been so much worse.

It is worth noting that your first contact with being scammed does not necessarily need to come in the form of a letter from some obscure company that you have never heard of. These con-tricksters had succeeded in getting one of the biggest mobile phone companies to contact me which, I   suppose, is the reason why I laughed off the first couple of letters that I received as a mistake.

Please take care…

GC, Forest Hill

GC offered some links that support this post…

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