MoS helps victim Joanna after broadband conman tricked her into paying out £7,800
WHEN Joanna Coull finally got her broadband to work after three weeks without it, she was relieved if still a little angry. As a financial adviser, the internet and email are essential tools in communicating with clients.
When she was then told she would be compensated for all the inconvenience she had suffered, she mellowed somewhat.
But Joanna, who lives near Taunton in Somerset, was about to fall victim to a scam costing her £7,800.
Only after The Mail on Sunday’s intervention last week did Joanna’s bank agree to refund her the money she had lost.
The fraud’s beginnings go back to last month when Joanna’s broadband stopped working. She reported this to Utility Warehouse which arranged for someone from BT to visit to sort out the problem.
Utility Warehouse’s selling point to customers is that it will arrange all their utility suppliers – gas, electricity, telecoms and broadband – thereby cutting out the hassle of shopping around.
The first BT engineer that came left bemused. A week later, a second one discovered a fault on the line and seemed to have resolved the problem.
A week later someone saying they were from BT – the same person who had called Joanna on the day of the second appointment confirming she would be at home – rang stating he needed to test the speed of her internet.
Joanna obliged. She was directed to a BT wholesale broadband performance test website where she was told her internet speed could be monitored. By logging into something called ‘TeamViewer’, the person on the phone was also able to look at the speed test.
Next morning, the same person rang again and another test
was conducted. In doing this Joanna was directed to a page indicating she was eligible for a Utility Warehouse refund of £173.
The caller then directed her to what she thought was Utility Warehouse’s home page and a link called ‘claim a refund’ (no such link is on the official home page).
The caller indicated that the compensation could already be in her bank account. Clicking through to her NatWest account via what she thought was an official Utility Warehouse page, she discovered that £9,000 of compensation had been credited – not £173.
The caller said there had been a ‘huge mistake’ and that he would lose his job if the overpayment was not returned.
She was asked to refund £7,800 which she did.
When Joanna checked her account soon after, the £7,800 had been taken but the £9,000 credit was nowhere to be seen – the bank statement she had initially seen had been doctored. She had been robbed of £7,800.
After The Mail on Sunday requested the bank to investigate, it refunded the £7,800 as a ‘gesture of goodwill’.
Utility Warehouse said it was ‘sorry’ about Joanna’s ‘distressing experience’.
It said it was not to blame and that her data must have been accessed from BT Openreach. It added: ‘We have raised this case with TalkTalk, our wholesale broadband provider, and BT Openreach as a matter of priority so that they can identify the criminals who carried out this scam.
‘We note the telephone number from which Ms Coull was called is marked as “dangerous” on number checking website: http://who-called.co.uk/ Number/02032390763. So it appears this has happened to other customers on the BT network.’ Joanna says: ‘This has been a nightmare experience. I know other people have not been so lucky.
‘I am so grateful for the intervention of The Mail on Sunday and to NatWest for coming up trumps.
‘It is so important that no one else goes through what I did. I had no idea that when I opened up TeamViewer on my computer I would ultimately be giving fraudsters access to my bank account.
‘As I went into my online banking through NatWest’s security process, I assumed my account was secure. It wasn’t. These fraudsters are so sophisticated. They copied my account details and made fraudulent entries making me believe that £9,000 had been deposited in my account.
‘What I have learnt is that you should never transfer large sums of money without checking with your bank.’