Mobile phone insurance scam dupes buyers

Taking out mobile phone insurance on a new top-of-the-range handset might seem like a good idea, but some customers have been caught out by scammers selling invalid cover.

Hundreds of people across the UK are thought to have been duped by the fraudsters, who are based mainly in the Swansea area of south Wales.

Trading Standards claimed the problem has been ongoing for the past 18 months and is keen to warn consumers against the threat as it seeks to investigate the companies in question.

The firms target new mobile phone owners by calling them up and posing as representatives of the shop or network from which they purchased the handset.

Victims are offered the chance to take out cheap phone insurance, with the fraudsters taking bank and credit card details before leaving the customer with invalid or poor-quality cover.

Rebekah Swift, who was among those customers caught out by the scam, said her son had received a phone call from people claiming to be from the Carphone Warehouse just hours after buying a new iPhone.

She said the cheaper insurance deal had seemed "great" and she thought nothing of giving away her credit card details over the phone.

"Then he received a text some while later from Carphone Warehouse warning him of an insurance scam going on and by that stage the money had already gone out of my account, and we'd been scammed," she commented.

This comes after mobile phone recycling provider Regenersis called for greater security measures to protect handset users looking to recycle their older models.

A study by the firm revealed that many mobiles still contain traces of personal data such as contacts and emails, which could put their personal information and identity at risk.

By Michael Hardman