Darlington Council warn of mobile phone upgrade scam

The scam call claims to be the victim’s mobile phone provider that seems at first like a normal call about the service.

However, the call soon turns into an aggressive sale scam, in which the caller will offer anything that will get the call receiver to say yes, such as reductions in tariffs, better more or less terms discounts only applicible if they sign up.

Once the scammer has the person’s financial details they use them to take out as many contracts in the call receiver’s name as they can, ordering expensive phones.

After this they either intercept the phone delivery or get it delivered to another address.

Darlington Borough Council has issued a warning and has issued the following advice to anyone who receives a similar call: 

• “Never give out your personal information to a third party if you’re called unexpectedly.
  • “Put the phone down if you don’t know who you’re talking to and call back on the genuine number of the organisation. If they were telling the truth, the person on the other end of the line will be able to verify this. Make sure you wait for a few minutes so you can be sure the caller isn’t connected anymore.
  • “Remember, if an offer sounds too good to be true it probably is.
  If you have fallen victim to the scam contact your bank to cancel the card immediately and order a new one, report it to police and contact the phone companies to cancel the contracts set up by the scammers.”