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Tom41's avatar
Tom41
Up to speed
3 days ago

New type of fraud involving PAC?

I received a phone call from “No Caller ID”. The caller claimed to be working on behalf of O2, because our contract was coming to an end. I was passed through to a second person, who explained that while the provider would still be O2, all the customer service would be through their company. They already knew a great deal of personal information including our address, post code and even the amount of the previous bill.

They needed to check if we had any outstanding balance on the account, and the way to do that was by texting PAC to a number, which I did. The reply text from O2 mentioned switching to another provider. At this point I got suspicious, and did NOT read out the PAC code that the caller was asking for. 

Is this a legitimate thing that companies working on behalf of O2 do? Do they need the PAC code to renew a contract or set up a new one through the company? Or did I narrowly avoid a sim-swap scam?

4 Replies

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    VM & O2 and (also EE) require you to text 'PAC' to 65075 from the number you wish to port to a different provider.    

    It reads like an attempt to switch you to a new provider, quite how they intended to get your payment details is a puzzle, perhaps if your confidence was gained, that was step 2 of the sting.

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    3 days ago

    Perhaps the scammers required control of the mobile number in order gain access to some of the OP's existing services where the mobile no. was the 2FA.

  • Robert_P's avatar
    Robert_P
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    3 days ago

    Hello Tom41

     

    Sorry to hear of the recent call received in regards to your O2 services, we understand the concerns these calls can create and from what you have advised it does appear to have been a scam.

     

    We aren't able to support or view O2 accounts via this forums but if you want to ensure everything is still correct on your O2 account you can contact them using any of the methods here who will be happy to check. We do have help in regards to calls of this nature here.