[rich1068]

Let me run this one by you.

Is there any possible way calls can be attributed to an account/SIM that haven't been made by the phone user?

I think I know the answer to this but to explain further, I'm the account holder for a phone number my brother in law uses. He has a poor credit history so the account is in my name, O2 send me the bill, I pay by DD and he transfers the money to my account. Job done and never much more than £25 per month. This month however it's £108 and there are five calls made over two days to £1.50 per minute Premium Rate 09 numbers. These account for the £80+ difference. A quick Google shows they belong to some dodgy finance/loan broker firm with plenty of people complaining about the cost.

Now my brother in law swears blind that he hasn't made these calls and to be honest it's no skin off my nose whether he has or hasn't because I get the money off him regardless. The issue is other than someone else using his phone is there any other way these charges can be attributed to his number? The whole phone cloning thing seems a little far fetched for 80 quid. Surely if that happened they'd take you for a damn sight more before you realised ie a whole month. My money is on someone else using the phone without his knowledge but I just thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone else had any ideas.

[RCUK]

If your BIL swears he didnt - id ask him to check with his line provider to confirm what time etc the calls were made - they should also be able to tell him where (as in location) the calls were made from.

If he was using the phone elsewhere at the time would prove it couldnt be him.

Only way i can see it happening is if someone cloned his sim card - which would appear pretty unlikely to do that and only make £80 worth of calls.

[rich1068]

I've got all the details regarding cost, duration, time of day etc as I'm the account holder. But I didn't think of checking to see if O2 can tell me where the phone was. Not sure if that's even possible for an ordinary punter but worth a go. He's checking his diary but I certainly wouldn't be able to say what I was doing at a particular time/date over a month ago.

[Giff]

Calls made to a dodgy finance/loan broker from the phone of a guy with financial problems.
I'd have a serious chat with your sister as things look bad.

[Bungle009]

Originally Posted by Giff

Calls made to a dodgy finance/loan broker from the phone of a guy with financial problems.
I'd have a serious chat with your sister as things look bad.

+1

[Baby Dave]

As above. It sounds like your brother in law made the calls.

[dxb335d]

Your too nice for your own good.

Why on earth have you got a contract in your name for this gimp.

He needed a pay as you go phone to learn how to manage his finances.

[kaishang]

Originally Posted by Giff

Calls made to a dodgy finance/loan broker from the phone of a guy with financial problems.
I'd have a serious chat with your sister as things look bad.

2

[rich1068]

As I thought, O2 can't help with the location of the phone when the calls were made. It did sound a bit 'Enemy of the State' but was worth a punt.

As to the others commenting on his financial status and the nature of the calls, I'm afraid you don't know the full story and I'm not about to go into it here. Needless to say, I don't think you'd call him a gimp to his face. You also seem to have missed the bit where I said "it's no skin off my nose whether he has or hasn't because I get the money off him regardless".

Bearing in mind the nature of his workplace and the times of the calls my money is on his phone being used without his knowledge. I just wondered if anyone had experience with eg cloning and mobile scams in general. Cheers RCUK and if anyone has anymore input then feel free.

Something else. I've attempted to put a bar on all premium rate stuff at his request just in case. I'm not sure how true this is but O2 informed me that apparently a complete bar isn't possible. Premium rate numbers are held on a database updated periodically and used by the mobile companies. In O2's case there is an automatic bar when you first sign up which would have been in place on this account. However, the companies who operate these numbers change them frequently to stay one step ahead of the database. You can't just bar eg all 09 numbers. Worth keeping in mind for those who have children (or brothers in law) with mobiles.

[scooba0010]

02

I had some issues a couple off years ago they were taking legal action to recover money from me for a contract i never had and put some cuunts from a debt collection firm on me,Anyway it dragged on to the point my Mrs said pay it to get rid off them . NO WAY !

They do make mistakes at 02 , only you know your BIL and give him the benefit of doubt is my advice.

My case got really shitty , To the point off my solicitor writing that for every communication I replied to he would invoice them £75 as It was clear I never had the contract and eventually they sent me a invoice for £0.01p and that still never got paid they are wankers !

I wasted so much time on trying to resolve it and there guy telling me if they found it was a error they would refund me my money ,I am to pay you for a phone contract I never had ? and you will reinburse me if you find a error has been made.

I am sure it doesn't happen very often but the pressure was relentless. But I don't fold easy and could see plenty just losing the will to live and paying them to get rid off the hassle.

I would be inclined to just offer them the money for the calls you are sure you made and put the rest on some sort off dispute.