Re: "'Scammers stole £40k after EDF gave out my number"

On 17/03/2025 18:44, Java Jive wrote:

On 2025-03-17 14:53, Nick Finnigan wrote:

On 17/03/2025 13:53, Java Jive wrote:

On 2025-03-17 08:53, Nick Finnigan wrote:

On 16/03/2025 18:00, Theo wrote:

In uk.telecom.mobile Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:

>
No, how would he have known the answers to the security questions to
enable the SIM swap, and his emails were from Virgin Media, while the
SIM was from O2.  Although not initially, my reading of the original
article is now unambiguously that the email hack preceded the SIM swap
and provided the initial personal information necessary to accomplish
everything that followed.

>
Virgin Media O2 are one company - VM and O2 merged June 2021.  I don't know
whether they have merged customer accounts such that the same security
details are used for both.  In which case it may be that one set of details
gives access to both mobile and emails.

>
"If you've linked your Virgin Media and O2 details to create a new Virgin Media O2 ID, sign in with it here."
>
https://accounts.o2.co.uk/signin

>
But Theo's own transcription of events from the BBC Radio documentary makes clear that he had not done so (first and last entries from this excerpt):

>
  That does not make it clear to me (he would still have an O2 password as well as a VM/O2 password).

 I disagree, your own quote shows that if it was a joint account for both, he'd only have needed the one password, whereas the Theo's transcription makes it plain that there were two.

  He would still have an O2 password, as well as a VM/02 password.
  (See the O2 website)

In brief:
- received a text from O2 (mobile operator) saying he'd changed his password
- contacted O2 straight away and told SIM had been swapped
- told they'd stop that and send out a new SIM card, emailed to confirm
- next morning, email from EDF (energy supplier) asking for feedback on recent contact with customer services
- called EDF, told they'd pass it on to the fraud section and get back to him
- nothing happened for over a week
- called O2 again to make sure everything was stopped, put through to fraud department
- just after received an email saying new SIM card had been sent out,
connected to a different number.  Queried with fraud department, said didn't know, need to go to an O2 shop
- O2 shop couldn't do much as account had been stopped, couldn't look at it
- told them to check his emails
- contacted Virgin Media (ISP, merged with O2), told he'd changed his password, had to go through changing password back again, told they'd pass it to the fraud section
>
It's difficult to deduce from this the exact ordering of events ...
>
Because he had to contact VM to find out that he'd changed his email

>
  'his password' may be 'his account password' rather than 'his email app password'.

 If it is 'his account password', then that completely supports my argument, not yours, and 'his email app password' doesn't make any sense, perhaps you mean 'his email password', but, unless he has multiple email addresses under a single account with VM, of which there is no mention, why would he need a separate email password?

  VM use the term 'email app password' (see their website).