Customers impacted by fraud

If someone calls you claiming to work for Tesco Mobile, remember, we’ll never ask you for your account details like passwords, passcodes or PINs, or personal info like bank details. If you think a call is suspicious, please contact us as soon as possible by heading to our ‘Getting in touch with us’ page. Here, you’ll be able to speak to one of our team via web chat or social media. Alternatively, you can call us on 4455 for free from your Tesco Mobile phone, or 0345 301 4455 from any other phone. Our lines are open 8am-9pm on Monday-Friday, 8am-8pm on Saturday, and 10am-6pm on Sunday.

If you mistakenly give a caller your bank details, make sure to get in touch with your bank as soon as possible.

If you’ve had any texts, emails, letters or calls saying you’ve bought any of our products or services when you haven’t, or if money has been taken from your bank account for something you haven’t bought, you could be a victim of identity or impersonation fraud. This could happen if you’re a Tesco Mobile customer or not. 

If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, please get in touch with us as soon as possible, using one of the methods detailed in the first paragraph on this page. As well as asking you for your contact details, we’ll also ask you for as much info about the incident as possible, including any mobile or account numbers you may have received communications for (texts, emails, etc), and any crime or Action Fraud reference numbers.

If money has been taken from your bank account or someone has used your credit card without your permission, make sure to let your bank or card provider know as soon as possible. They’ll stop any further use, and they’ll tell you how you can get your money back. You should also report this to Action Fraud as soon as possible.

Once you’ve reported the fraud to us, our fraud team will investigate your case and update you within 20 working days. Our fraud team will be able to let you know the steps they took in the investigation, how you can avoid being a victim of fraud in the future, and where you can go for more info.

Fraudsters may call you for info to help them carry out fraud – unknowingly to you. They may pretend to work for Tesco Mobile and they’ll be very friendly. This is to try to convince you to give them the answer to your security question and a one-time code which they’ll trigger to your phone, so they can change your online account password and get into your account. One-time codes can also be used to change your address or swap your SIM, allowing the fraudster to gain control of your mobile number.

They may keep calling you until they have all the info they need to impersonate you and make changes to your account. This is known as phishing, so please be cautious if it seems that someone is trying to get your account info from you. 

An account takeover is when a fraudster gains control of your account for 2 main reasons:

  •  To intercept communications from your bank, email provider or any online account that uses your phone to reset passwords, such as social media or payment providers
  • To order upgrades and replacement SIMs, and to add additional lines

Fraudsters use several techniques to perform an account takeover:

  • SIM swap – swapping your mobile number onto a SIM that’s in their possession. This lets them receive all calls and texts intended for you. This is associated with banking fraud (taking money from your bank account). If this happens, please get in touch with us and your bank as soon as possible
  • Port out – taking your mobile number to another network to gain control of your number (similar to a SIM swap)
  • Lost or stolen block – reporting your phone/SIM as lost or stolen to stop you from receiving calls and texts from us, your bank and others
  • Address or email change – changing your address or email when ordering upgrades and replacement SIMs (to enable banking fraud), and adding additional lines
  • New phones/upgrades – ordering new phones/upgrades to your address, then trying to intercept the parcel from the courier – for example, by posing as you and pretending to lock your front door or car. If they fail to intercept the parcel, they may pose as another courier trying to collect the parcel, telling you it was delivered in error
  • Password change – resetting your online account password to trigger a one-time code to your phone. They’ll call you and try to convince you to give them the code by pretending to work for Tesco Mobile, so they can change your password and get into your account. Using different passwords for your different online accounts (banking, email, social media, etc) helps stop fraudsters from getting into multiple accounts

If you think you’ve received a scam text, please forward it to 7726 (this number spells ‘SPAM’ on an alphanumeric keypad). The info in the text will then be shared with all mobile networks and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as well as various approved organisations involved in criminal investigations – enabling them to identify the sender. These approved organisations include the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The info in the text may also be shared with any organisations that are being targeted by the smishing attempt, to help them protect their customers from fraud.

Fraudsters may try to convince you to return a phone to another address, so they can either intercept or receive it. For example, they may order a phone on your account, then contact you (pretending to work for Tesco Mobile) and say that it’s been sent to you in error, and advise you to return it to a certain address.

Remember, if you ever need to return anything to us, please get in touch with us using one of the methods detailed in the first paragraph on this page, and we’ll arrange a collection. 

Helpful links

  • Action Fraud – the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime
  • Take Five – advice to help you protect yourself against financial fraud
  • Get Safe Online – advice to help you protect yourself online
  • Which? – advice to help you protect yourself against scams