Dial-a-scam snatches £20k from holidaying islanders

Friday 13 July 2018

Islanders holidaying in Spain have had to say ‘adios’ to up to £20,000 in a new scam after having their phones snatched by pickpockets.

Losing your phone abroad can be distressing enough, but increasing numbers of islanders have this summer had to deal with more than just the loss of a handset worth several hundred pounds.

Airtel Vodafone, JT and Sure have all reported that their customers are suffering under a new scam that has lost them several thousands of pounds. 

The trio of operators told the Jersey Fraud Prevention Forum (JFPF) that not only are islanders’ mobiles being snatched, but they’re then being used to call expensive numbers, leading to bills with several zeros.

JFPF described the scam: “Thieves routinely target tourists in popular hotspots and within an hour it is used to call expensive premium-rate numbers, which have been set up specially to generate an income.

“The crime groups rent premium rate telephone numbers around the world and will use the device to either repeatedly call the numbers or stay connected for several hours resulting in huge bills running into thousands of pounds.”

The majority of incidents have happened in Spain, with extreme cases leading to losses of between £15,000 and £20,000 – but islanders are being warned to be vigilant wherever they go.

The Forum are now urging islanders to ensure that both their device and SIM are protected with a strong password.

“If your mobile phone is stolen, fraudsters will remove the SIM from the device,  if a secure password has not been set to protect your SIM card, it can be used to generate thousands of calls in a short space of time to premium-rate numbers,” they explained.

They added that devices should be kept out of plain sight when not in use, and that theft victims should immediately contact their providers, as well as the local police, so that they can block the SIM card and prevent it from being used fraudulently.

Following this advice is crucial, they said, as islanders are held responsible for all roaming charges racked up on their devices – whether they intended to incur them or not.