Vodafone Security Non Existent

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kooza

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#58891 22-Mar-2010 20:42

I'm with Vodafone, someone stole my phone in the weekend, texted my contacts pretending they were me saying I needed credit and to send top up (i'm on prepay). As soon as I found out about this I ring Vodafone and ask for the sim to be barred. I'm told that is done just go into the store get a new sim and they will give you your number back. End of story right? No siree, I find that this person is still using my sim the next day AND a family member had sent them $20 top up.

I ring Vodafone again and my pin suddenly is not working. So it seems this person has called Vodafone lifted the bar changed my security settings and now I have to answer a bunch of security questions, half of which I have no idea what the answer is. So finally I get my pin restored and the bar put back on.

I then decide to switch to 2degrees as I had a 2degrees sim, went through the whole process get a message from 2degrees saying Vodafone wouldn't release my number. Ring Vodafone AGAIN and you guessed it, pin doesn't work again. However this time I am asked some security question which I can only assume was set by said thief. I tell lady on support the situation and that I never set that security question and have no idea what the answer is. She doesn't believe me and starts treating me like I'm the one in the wrong and not who I say I am. I ask to speak to her manager and told I can only speak to manager if i can answer the security question. I am told my only option is to take ID to a Vodafone store to prove I am who I say I am.

I go to Vodafone store and I give them my phone number and pin and they were accepted this time without a problem. So not sure why I just went through all of that crap with the person on the phone moments before. They say the only thing they can do is issue me a new sim. So I fork out $30 for the new SIM and leave the shop thinking everything is finally sorted.

About an hour later I get a phone call from Vodafone asking me who I am stating someone else had contacted them claiming to be me and owner of the account. I got asked another bunch of security questions and again I explain the situation to this person.

I ring Vodafone back and I'm told everything is fine not to worry we just wanted to confirm this is your account.

That evening my phone suddenly loses signal. My friend texts my number and gets a reply saying 'f off this is my number'. So I can only assume somehow said thief has barred my new sim reactivated my old sim. I call Vodafone AGAIN, explain the situation AGAIN, told that this is technically impossible and that I need to go back to the store where I got the sim with the receipt. So this person who stole MY phone is using MY number and Vodafone refuse to do anything about it.

Way to go Vodafone!

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#309950 22-Mar-2010 21:08

Hi there,

can I get you to DM me all your details (phone number etc) and what store you visited and when so I can chase that up for you?

When the phone was stolen they will have blocked the number and assigned it to your new SIM so nothing the thief did to your account (eg change the security information) will be on your new SIM. At the store they should have re-set that for you.

Two people cannot use the same number on different SIMs so I don't know why your friend would have received a TXT from someone else when TXTing your number - unless your friend got your number wrong.

Cheers

Paul

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

johnr

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#309979 22-Mar-2010 21:59

Hey Paul what the OP has advised in the above post is not possible and to be honest the post has a few holes

1) Once a SIM swap is done the old SIM is locked out in the infranet so it can't be activated again unless this person has access to the infranet and many Vodafone staff do not even know what this is!

I am not saying the OP is telling porkies but it does not look right.

We can tell who is telling the truth from the history of the TAC code used against the MSISDN

John

johnr

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#309985 22-Mar-2010 22:12

and the security is there even you have advised every time you have called Vodafone security questions are asked

John

NonprayingMantis

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#310012 22-Mar-2010 23:34

"About an hour later I get a phone call from Vodafone asking me who I am stating someone else had contacted them claiming to be me and owner of the account. I got asked another b
unch of security questions and again I explain the situation to this person. "

How do you know it was vodafone? Chances are good that it was probably the thief trying to work out what your security questions and answers were. you fell for it. classic phishing.

kooza

17 posts

Geek

#310020 23-Mar-2010 00:07

I am not saying the OP is telling porkies but it does not look right.

Sounds to me like that is exactly what you are saying, although i'd expect nothing less as that is all Vodafone staff keep telling me.

However, no one has told me yet how it has come about that I am sitting her with my phone and a brand new sim which was working perfectly fine this afternoon with my number transferred to it which i have been using for 6 or 7 years now saying no service?

And that shortly after my phone was suddenly saying no service my friend replied to a text I had sent earlier from that exact phone using that new sim with my number I have used for years and received a reply from someone else. Asking who the f she was?

And that for some reason my pin just seems to magically change whenever I call support?

It seems pretty obvious to me that someone (I'm assuming the person who stole my phone, pretty safe assumption i'd say, or someone they have sold the phone too) is somehow successfully convincing your support staff that they are me.

I also would have thought Vodafone would have taken this more seriously due to the fact this person had stolen from a member of my family and can continue to text my contacts from my number pretending to be me.

Perhaps you can also explain John how the "security" question "when was the last time you topped up your phone?" a security question at all when anyone who steals a prepay phone can top it up. When I was asked this question I said I topped it up about 3 weeks ago but the person who stole it topped it up this morning. The only way I knew that is because I logged into my account online.

The holes aren't in my story John they are in Vodafones security. I can't believe that something so simple is turning out to be such a mission. Someone steals your phone you ring your phone company ASAP and they disconnect it, end of story. Tell me why that hasn't happened?

kooza

17 posts

Geek

#310023 23-Mar-2010 00:19

NonprayingMantis: "About an hour later I get a phone call from Vodafone asking me who I am stating someone else had contacted them claiming to be me and owner of the account. I got asked another b
unch of security questions and again I explain the situation to this person. "

How do you know it was vodafone? Chances are good that it was probably the thief trying to work out what your security questions and answers were. you fell for it. classic phishing.

I know that is why I called Vodafone back immediately afterwards to ask if it was a legitimate call because alarm bells were ringing. The number was 092629400 and the lady at Vodafone confirmed that it was a legitimate call. Although I Googled that number and got no results which I thought was really suss.

freitasm

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#310060 23-Mar-2010 08:38

I think this is not something you can fix through forums discussions. Contact Paul as request using the Geekzone Email (PM) link on his post.

Pass on most details about your ownership of the account as possible.

Post results here.

As suggested before you shoud NEVER answer questions to people CALLING you saying they are from a company. They might just be asking the security questions to get the answers out of you to then call the company and use them.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

MikeyPI

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#310071 23-Mar-2010 09:30

Just a Q's..

If you had proper security in place in the first place, wouldnt it be impossible for them to make the changes? As when they ring up, they get asked the security questions?

It would be impossible for some random on the street to do anything to my account unless they had name, address, PIN, mailing address.

Could it be done from the inside?

kooza

17 posts

Geek

#310224 23-Mar-2010 14:13

MikeyPI: Just a Q's..

If you had proper security in place in the first place, wouldnt it be impossible for them to make the changes? As when they ring up, they get asked the security questions?

It would be impossible for some random on the street to do anything to my account unless they had name, address, PIN, mailing address.

Could it be done from the inside?

I thought the same however clearly that is not the case. I went back to the store today with passport and proof of address. The lady at the store confirmed that the pin on my account had been successfully changed about three times by this person after I kept getting it restored basically meaning they had taken control of my number sucessfully on three different occasions.

It turned out that after I had got the new sim yesterday about 3:40pm this person had gone to a store at around 6pm and purchased a new sim and successfully managed to have my number transferred to it which is why I suddenly got no service around that time as stated in my previous post.

freitasm

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#310230 23-Mar-2010 14:23

Have you already contacted Paul B. or John R.?

kooza

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#310235 23-Mar-2010 14:26

freitasm: Have you already contacted Paul B. or John R.?

Yes I contacted Paul but have had no response.

freitasm

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#310237 23-Mar-2010 14:27

Paul B. is in Wellington today for meetings. Might as well send that to John R. as well.

xpd

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#310239 23-Mar-2010 14:27

Seems stupid... steal phone.. use and abuse the existing credit... when its blocked, go steal another phone or buy a new SIM @$30 which it appears theyre doing anyway...why goto the hassle of trying to get the same number again ? Unless theyve got a personal gripe with you.....

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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quickymart

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#310240 23-Mar-2010 14:31

freitasm:...As suggested before you shoud NEVER answer questions to people CALLING you saying they are from a company. They might just be asking the security questions to get the answers out of you to then call the company and use them.

I had this a few months ago, when someone (purportedly) from VF called me asking me to renew my contract. I had to give her my PIN as ID which she asked for, and Paul said while it wasn't ideal, that was the way it was.

freitasm

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#310241 23-Mar-2010 14:33

If anyone ever calls me and says "I am from [bank|other company]" I ask for a name and call the number *I KNOW* to confirm. I don't use any number they give me as it could easily be themselves just answering and saying "yes, it's from the bank".

Everyone needs to be very careful with identity theft these days.

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