Someone we know received a message from EE saying there was a problem with their direct debit instructions, possibly due to a card expiring, a problem with the bank, or insufficient funds. It was extremely plausible, and since their bank card had just been replaced, they verified their payment details as requested.
So far, so bad.
Then they were asked for the PAC code to be sent to confirm they were a genuine EE user. Unfortunately, this terminates your account AND you have lost your phone number and someone else has it. So the scammers now had the email address, the phone number and the bank account details, and the customer had lost their business phone number and contract.
HOW TO CHECK FOR SCAMS
- Hover over the email address of the sender and it should display their actual email address. You can usually spot a bogus one. EE will not be sending you a message from info@spywarefixer.co.uk, for example
- As a good rule of thumb, never send your bank details in response to an email
- A network is unlikely to ask you for a PAC code unless you have asked to move to another network and you need this code to transfer
- If in doubt, contact the actual organisation via a completely separate route i.e. none of the website links or phone numbers or replies on the email
At the top of this page, you can see a screen capture of the scam so that you can be aware of what it looks like. It did look absolutely plausible, but this is a route scammers often take, to copy a well known company, or organisation above reproach (such as HMRC) and cloak their scam in perfect copies of the original organisation’s style.
I am happy to report that we assisted in getting the person’s phone number restored.
Stay safe out there!
