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Message 1 of 11

Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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Anyone (BT or other) got any advice?

Scenario is, I just had a letter turn up a few days ago for recovery of a debt. A default on my credit files was also applied (retrospectively) from 2021.

Appears, that someone at an address I lived at 10+ years ago was able to open a BT account for fixed line services (TV, Broadband and phone (with the extra packages the cheeky so and so's). Evidently never paid and when BT sold the debt this has been traced to the REAL me and all these defaults applied.

I have spoken to various people at BT, been on hold for well over 5 hours in the last few days with no answers.

This has been logged to action fraud, I have emailed more than enough documents to prove where I ACTUALLY lived for the time period in question.. (Sky Bills - who I have been with for many many years), Annual P60's, payslips with address' previous utility bills, bank statements and even correspondence from solicitors as I had just bought a house at the time as well.

As said, the account was set up to this very old address, using an email address I do not recognise (it's not even a typo on my real one), a mobile number that isn't mine (and never has been).

Quite frankly how there was ANY identity validation on this account being created in my name is a mystery as I never even had records of soft searches (I was buying a house so was very aware of this sort of thing) happening... and now to have this default on my account as I need to start looking to renew my mortgage deal is far from ideal.

Short of me writing to all of the BT board members on the companies house registrations for BT, or trying to reach out to BT CFO, CISO to get more on this... why is BT not providing any assistance???

Anyone know any magical tricks to get a response on this even if so I have a start date I can register with OFCOM/ Financial Ombudsman etc?

All I want is an  update, and this to be removed from my file(s). How BT choose to further this fraud with Police etc (shouldn't be hard as they obviously lived at that address to want all these services) I'm not too concerned about. 

Surely I have some kind of right to a swift response from BT????

Oh, just hit 6 hours worth on calls while writing this.

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Message 2 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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@DB3684 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail Broadband and phone customers.

The first thing you need to do is raise a dispute with either Equifax or Experian, depending on who the debt is with. You can do that at 

  • Online at www.equifax.co.uk/ask
  • Call 0800 014 2955
  • Address – Equifax Ltd
    • Customer Service Centre
    • PO Box 10036
    • Leicester
    • LE3 4FS

or 

  • Online at www.experian.co.uk
  • Call 0344 481 8000
  • Address - Experian Headquarters Talbot House
    • Talbot Street
    • Nottingham
    • N80 1TH

They'll then liaise with BT for you.

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Message 3 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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The other obvious one if you get nowhere with either Experian or Equifax is Citizens Advice.

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Message 4 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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While I know I can dispute this with the CRA's, my bigger point is that BT approved this spurious credit application, and then installed the service (would have thought maybe an ID check at that time?), then provided the service, and then a year later suddenly sell a debt (no contact tracing that would have come to me it appears) - the first I hear about it is after they sell the debt and the recovery agents themselves do a tracing search, attribute to me then file the defaults retrospectively.

What I want to know is -

What checks did they do to validate the application.

Why no hard search on my file at the time that would have flagged.

Why they did not attempt contact tracing at time of the default in 2021.

When will they remove all these associations on my account/files.

What recompense I should accept as a victim of identity theft due to their poor validation of an application and the endless hours I have now had to spend to date working on this to resolve.

Will BT fund the cost of a CIFAS registration on my account bearing in mind it was BT systems that allowed this fraud to take place and ultimately held against me.

The issue mostly I have is BT's slow response on providing any information or any willingness to correct the issues on their side, which inevitably is not attributed or caused by me.

For any institution, let alone a household name such as BT is unforgivable. They should bend over backwards to keep me updated, correct the issues and provide a detailed analysis of how this issue occurred and how they will prevent this for other individuals going forward.

 

 

 

 

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Message 5 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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Hi @DB3684, sorry you've been the victim of this fraudulent account.

We do run a check with the credit reference agencies mentioned above for all applications from new customers. I'm sure you appreciate that the vast majority of applications are genuine. 

In relation to get corrective action taken to fix this you do need to contact the credit reference agency and raise a dispute. They'll liaise with a team within BT that specialises in these cases. They'll be able to sort any errors on your credit file that were caused due to this. 

Thanks

John

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Message 6 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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You say I need to raise this with the CRA's.

This is not my responsibility as BT are the ones who allowed / approved the fraudulent activity. BT also maintain the relationship with the CRA's. It was a failure on BT's part to properly assess and review the application. While perhaps for the large part most are genuine, in this case it was not.

As such this is a failure on BT's part, and the responsibility to resolve also lies with BT.

It's also documented per many of the FCA's guidelines that this is within the responsibility of BT (in this case) to resolve / perform corrective actions. At a bare minimum BT have made a mistake, in line with FCA codes of practice BT should adhere to (in my view)

3. Management and controlA firm must take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems.

BT failed in their responsibility to ensure this was legitimate and so far correct the issue.

4. Consumer responsibility

Consumers should take responsibility for their decisions.

BT chose to authorise this credit account, you made a bad choice.

6. Customers' interestsA firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.

Is it fair that I should be responsive for an error on BT's part as an innocent party?

7. Communications with clientsA firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.

I think this itself is about keeping me informed?

I'm sure a further dig into FCA and FCO guidelines, regulations would spin up a fair few more here. Perhaps you should further look into the responsibilities as an organisation BT has.

Either way, this doesn't resolve the issue in hand - which is the correction and to be honest - what I'm most concerned about.

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Message 7 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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The FCA guidelines are not relevant here as it's not a financial product though. For someone to setup an account in your details they must have had access to your information too, as advised first steps are to raise the dispute as is process

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Message 8 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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I would argue this point, it is a financial product as it is a form of credit. FCA regulations apply to the handling of this, while the actual issue would stray into the OFcom regs at worst.

Either way, its the responsibility of BT to resolve this.

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Message 9 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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You can either continue cutting your nose off despite your face, or take the pragmatic option and raise the issue yourself and follow the process

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Message 10 of 11

Re: Account Fraud - Which BT Don't seem to want to review.

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You have posted on a BT customer to customer forum and asked for advice. You have been given advice from users of the forum and from the BT moderators of the forum that you need to contact the Debt agency to raise a dispute and by doing so the debt agency will liaise with BT to resolve the matter.

You say "This is not my responsibility as BT are the ones who allowed / approved the fraudulent activity"  and then set out why you have reached that conclusion.

A couple of things spring to mind...

a) You have been given advice about what you need to do but you choose not to accept it so why ask for advice in the first place.

b) What do you expect this forum will do for you as the members have nothing to do with BT?

c) I suggest that you raise a complaint with BT raising all the things you have posted on this forum and see what they will do to resolve your issue.