Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2016 4:07:42 GMT 7
Elizabeth and John Gilbert* were strolling the streets of Athens on a Sunday afternoon when they were ambushed. A knife was held to their throats while the two attackers seized their belongings before fleeing with their money and their mobiles. Unable to call anyone without phones or contact lists, they headed for the nearest police station to report the crime.
Early next morning they managed to ring their service provider, Vodafone, to inform it of the theft. A month later a phone bill arrived for £5,789.
“It appears we fell victim not only to theft at knife-point, but also to one of Europe’s fastest-growing crimes, where thieves use stolen sim cards to repeatedly dial premium rate numbers set up by gang members who profit from the proceeds,” John Gilbert says. “Vodafone insists we should pay this massive sum, without giving any consideration to the circumstances.”
Tourists abroad are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs whose priority is not mobile phone handsets, but the more valuable sim card inside. Few people have any inkling that bills of thousands of pounds can be racked up in just hours when their mobiles are stolen. In a global racket known as international revenue share fraud, gangs target holiday resorts and use the sims from stolen handsets to ring international premium rate numbers in countries in Africa and Asia, where the cost of connecting a call is high. The fraudsters are paid a fee by the premium rate number provider for every minute of calls they make.
www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/14/knife-point-attack-on-holiday-mobiles-stolen-bill-vodafone
Early next morning they managed to ring their service provider, Vodafone, to inform it of the theft. A month later a phone bill arrived for £5,789.
“It appears we fell victim not only to theft at knife-point, but also to one of Europe’s fastest-growing crimes, where thieves use stolen sim cards to repeatedly dial premium rate numbers set up by gang members who profit from the proceeds,” John Gilbert says. “Vodafone insists we should pay this massive sum, without giving any consideration to the circumstances.”
Tourists abroad are increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs whose priority is not mobile phone handsets, but the more valuable sim card inside. Few people have any inkling that bills of thousands of pounds can be racked up in just hours when their mobiles are stolen. In a global racket known as international revenue share fraud, gangs target holiday resorts and use the sims from stolen handsets to ring international premium rate numbers in countries in Africa and Asia, where the cost of connecting a call is high. The fraudsters are paid a fee by the premium rate number provider for every minute of calls they make.
www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/14/knife-point-attack-on-holiday-mobiles-stolen-bill-vodafone
