Scammed by UK Mobile Insurance Company!

I was scammed recently by some unscrupulous ppl in the UK and as a result my pocket is lighter by £140. I need to record this down in case I forget about the incident and also to warn others about this and if you have anyone experiencing this, please ask them to contact me and see if I'm the only isolated case here:

So here goes: On 12th January, I received a call about 4pm from somebody who claims to be from my mobile phone insurance company and he gave me details like my new mobilephone number and also the mobilephone type and even my other phone that I bought recently (like 1 week ago). And after giving me all those details, he started to ask for my address and he murmured something about requiring the details so that I will be eligible for the mobilephone discounts (which I thought was part of the mobile phone plan that I bought recently which comes with a redemption of about £200+ and also has condition whereby I need to hold on to a mobile insurance plan for at least 3 months). And then, the big question came, he asked for my debit card number! He gave me the first 6 digits of my debit card number which was correct and asked me to complete the numbers so that he can verify my account. He also said that he cannot tell me the rest of the numbers because of some data protection law.

Initially I was very suspicious of this and asked him again why he needs my debit card number & all (this went on for about 10-15 minutes) and he said that it's so that I can get the discounts and also finalise the insurance contract by verifying my card details! So I asked him for details like where is he calling from exactly and I asked him to give me his phone number and all. He sounded irritated at that time and told me off by saying something along this line in a stern manner a few times: "Sir, I just need to do this 1 thing and it'll be done. You'll get your discounts and I'll be able to get on with my job." Again, I questioned him again asking him if he's sure if I need to give him my debitcard number and asked him other details like why didn't he get the number from the mobilephone company i bought from, etc.

And then once again, he gave me the first 6 digits of my debit card number and I thought oh well, since he has my first 6 debit card numbers it should be fine and since I won't be giving him the 3 digit security numbers behind the card it should be fine too! So reluctantly I gave him the number again and he said thanks and all and the phone conversation ended!

So the next thing I did was to call up the number that he gave me. Somebody picked up on the line and I asked them if they are an insurance company and the person said yes, we are mobile insurance companies for Vodafone and O2 (the mobile company I'm with) so learning that I felt abit safer. But then, on the next day (at night and also a Friday), I discovered that £140 has been deducted from my account!

I immediately recalled that I used a different debit card to purchase my mobile phones and if the insurance company called, they should have told me the 6 numbers of my other debit card number. So I called up my bank immediately and requested that they help me check on this. They said they'll pass the information on to the fraud department and said that they'll contact me again the week after but they can't give a guarantee if I can recover my money.

So in the next week, I received a mail from a company called N*tech, Ipswich and in it was an invoice for £140 for a mobile phone insurance plan which I never bought! I immediately called up the company and asked them why was I charged when I did not request to buy another mobile insurance plan? And then they asked if I received a sales call recently and if I had received a follow-up call after? I said I only received 1 call and that was it, some guy tricked me into giving him my debit card number and charged me £140 for it! The other guy on the phone asked me a few more questions like who is the guy on the phone with me, etc and said that he'll call back in a few minutes. So a few minutes passed and he actually called back and told me that he'll investigate the matter and he'll call me the next day at about 11am!

So on the next day, no calls came and I called them up again the following day! The same guy answered the phone and he said he'll return the money to me to the same debit card that I gave them but due to the call that I made to the bank earlier, my bank had cancelled my card and gave me a new one. So, that guy asked me for my new debit card number so that he'll put the money back. I asked a few times if they will definitely return the money back in 7 working days and not charge me anymore and they said yes. So, I gave them my new debit card number and so far there's no unusual activity in my bank account and hopefully they'll really honour their promise. 2 working days has passed so far, so let's hope for the best!

So my advice to anybody out there - never ever give out your debit card details even when they have part of your number!

Also, after doing some investigations of my own, it seems that these insurance companies get your new number by purchasing a handset from the mobile company and then it'll call the 200 numbers next to theirs and then return the phone back to the company. Apparently this kinda scam have been running for ages now, so be very careful of these insurance companies.

Finally, if you've experienced something similar please leave details of it below in the comments section as well. Once we have enough evidence the police might actually be able to do something about it.