Virgin/O2 merger new sim card. Scam or for real?

[kazzax]

I just had a (landline) call from what I'm pretty sure was a scammer, but they usually just hang up when challenged, and this guy didn't.

He told me he was calling from O2, and that (due to a merger with Virgin Media) my (O2) sim card was about to stop working. He wanted to send me a new one. He was asking for my email address, 'to confirm my identity' and I told him no, he could email me at the address they have on file, or text me from an official O2 account, and I would confirm my ID that way, but however as much I told him I wasn't going to confirm my identity until he confirmed his, he just kept asking for my email address. When I insisted there was no way I was going to give out any information, he said 'OK, then can I cancel your sim as from Monday' to which I said 'whatever' and hung up.

It seems like bad practice that O2 would call from an unidentified landline number, and ask for information they should already have on file, but it would be a pain in the arse if my sim card did stop working.

This feels like scam 101, but I thought I'd better check...

[Lee_R]

Hi @kazzax thanks for posting and welcome to our community.

Thanks for following your instincts and acting on the side of caution.  We'd ask that you reach out to our colleagues at O2, to give you the reassurance.  You can do so by their contact methods here.  Or their community page can be found here.  And you could reach out to them on X (formerly known as Twitter) and there handle is @O2.

Regards

Lee_R