These crimes have occurred over the past month.
Have you seen this woman in any phone retailers recently?
Anyone with information can contact Andover Police Station on 101, quoting ref 44150236040. Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111
According to an article written in The Guardian in 2012, this type of ID theft and fraud was up 40% and is still increasing. The article states how it is very easy to obtain fake ID from overseas, including very cheap (but high quality) fake bills and bank statements. These are then used to take out mobile phone contracts in other people's names - Leaving the victims to foot the bill and leaving a nasty scar on their credit ratings.
Should the phone retailers be more thorough when carrying out background checks? They ought to be.
The last mobile phone contract that I took out was in a relatively quiet Three store in Andover. I recall that they did the credit checks and some basic background checks, which took them a little while, but I can see how some customer service representatives would rush through to get the contract signed and move on to the next customer - Let's face it, these guys all run on commission and time is money to them.
- Have you been fraudulently lumbered with a phone contract? Comment or get in touch with me.
The Guardian's article says that these criminals are taking out multiple contracts, so I would guess that it would be easy to use false ID and other personal information to do this, especially on the same day before anything is flagged up on an account.
Interestingly, some examples in The Guardian's article state that some of the victim's bank accounts were savings accounts and would not even accept a Direct Debit being set up, yet the mobile phone store still let the fraudsters walk out of the store with a top end handset worth several hundred pounds.
There are two victims of these crimes: The phone retailer themselves (but I suspect that they don't care too much about the aftermath), but worse of all are the innocent victims who suddenly find that they have been fraudulently signed up for mobile phone contracts that they struggle to cancel - The stores must do more to be more helpful towards victims, and this includes not sending debt collectors out to recover the "debts".
Even when the matter is eventually sorted out (which must be incredibly stressful), the victim's credit rating will have been adversely affected and this black mark (or marks, in many cases) will impact the individual's credit rating for several years.
Links to the original news item below:
http://www.andoverandvillages.co.uk/home/andover-local-news-headlines/2643-police-appeal-for-andover-fraudster
http://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/13420983.WARNING__Young_brunette_wanted_in_connection_with_Andover_phone_scam/
