New cost of living scam warning over fake phone bill discounts

Mobile users have been warned to avoid a cost of living scam where fraudsters offer fake discounts on their phone bills.

Cifas, the UK's Fraud Prevention Community, issued the warning saying they had been made aware of fraudsters pretending to be employees of customers' phone provider and offering them discounts.

Amber Burridge, Head of Intelligence for Cifas, said: "Always think carefully before responding to unsolicited calls, texts or emails, and remember that challenging any requests for money or personal information could keep you safe.

"If you think you’ve been the victim of fraud then you must tell your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud. Only by remaining vigilant can we begin to stop criminals from exploiting the public."

Fraudsters will attempt to gain access to customers' accounts by calling them and pretending to be an employee of their provider.

They will then say the customer is eligible for a government cost of living scheme that can give them a 30% discount on their phone bill.

There is a government scheme for people in receipt of benefits offering them 'social tariff' deals which can provide discount internet and phone bills.

These social tariffs are an entirely new contract and cannot be applied to a current bill.

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Once the fraudster has offered the bogus discount they will then ask the customer for details about their account.

This will likely be in order to begin accessing their account and trigger a passcode log in.

They will then send the passcode to the customer and ask them to repeat it to them saying it is needed to apply the discount.

Instead, the customer will have likely just given the fraudster access to their account.

Once in the fraudster could access private details about the customer and also potentially buy a new phone through their account.

O2 recently said they have been made aware of the scam and said none of their employees would ever ask for a passcode to be repeated.

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Passcode texts, which have become common security measures in recent years, often also say never to repeat them to anyone.

Fraudsters have been attempting to exploit the cost of living crisis ever since it began.

Making use of the knowledge the government has offered various schemes to support people several scams have emerged trying to offer people fake versions of these schemes.

Last year the government warned people to ignore texts offering people £400 off their energy bill.

The energy bill support the government has offered has been taken directly off people's bill and not entered their bank accounts.