On 13 July I received an unsolicited phone call from a Mohammed who said he was calling from VODAPHONE, selling mobile contracts. He mumbled and stuttered so badly, and with such an incomprehensible accent I had to keep asking him to repeat himself at least five times after every
sentence.
Being interested in a contract, I suffered through this. Mohammed offered me a Blackberry Curve 9700 phone for £40 per month, over 24 months. He also offered a "free Samsung backup phone" which I accepted. Mohammed then passed me on to Fatima, who took my banking details. Towards the end she let slip that the Samsung phone was actually £15 per month, so I promptly cancelled that.
Within hours my account was debited with £40 by IBITSTORE. Next day I get an email from HALO Mobile, welcoming me to the contract and stating that my Blackberry 8400 was on its way. I immediately emailed them back and said it was a 9700. Mohammed phoned me later, apologising for his 'error' and advising that the best he could do was a Blackberry 8900. This is classic "bait & switch" fraud, so I cancelled the whole thing. The next day an email from noreply@Vodaphone arrives, quoting an order number and reference number.
I never received anything from HALO mobile, IBITSTORE or anyone else. On calling Vodaphone, they told me they'd never heard of either company, even though I quoted their reference number! A manager from Vodaphone then said I was in all likelihood scammed and the email from Vodaphone is spoofed and fraudulent. The phone numbers for Ibitstore either don't exist (0870 0429569), or continually go into voicemail, as is the case with 0844 5675863. Surprise surprise, nobody EVER answers! Same with their email. Mail to [email protected] elicits no response, and mail to [email protected] bounces back uneliverable, address doesn't exist.
The way these fraudsters get away with it is by falsely claiming they're from a reputable company - in my case I was told they're from Vodafone - not a word was said about Halo Mobile or Ibitstore. Its only after they've stolen from your account that the truth emerges.
That such brazen criminality and bare-faced fraud can be allowed to continue in especially the UK stuns me. These creeps should be shut down and thrown into prison!
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