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What to do if you've become the target of fraud

Scammers and their scams are becoming more sophisticated from day to day. As we begin to navigate more of our daily lives through digital channels, we are put more at risk of being taken advantage of by those who would defraud us. At TalkTalk, your security is our business. We've provided this article to help you identify potential acts of fraud that you might encounter, and how to protect yourself and your family from becoming the victims of fraud.

If you are struggling to understand some of the items listed below, please engage with a family member or a friend for support.

 

Is someone attempting to defraud you?

These are a few things you should keep an eye out for as they could indicate that someone is attempting to or has already defrauded you.

  • Have you seen money transfers on your bank account that you don’t remember making or authorising?
  • Have you received calls and/or texts to your mobile from your bank about money transfers?
  • Have you logged into your online bank or credit card account or app and noticed payments that you don’t recognise?
What you should do:

If your bank is part of the 159 scheme, you can dial 159 from your TalkTalk landline to get straight through to their fraud team. Alternatively, contact your bank using the contact details on letters. Be extra vigilant when using the contact details on emails as these could be phishing attempts to try and scam you (check out Phishing emails & everything you need to know for more information).

Also check the phone numbers used to contact you if you've been called previously, as these may not be official company contact details and instead those of someone attempting to impersonate the company. If you have concerns about scam callers, check out About CallSafe to find out how to deter these callers.

 

  • Have you received communications by email and/or SMS from legitimate companies like TalkTalk alerting you of changes that have been made to your account which you didn’t do yourself?
What you should do:

Reach out to that specific company for more information and to check if the contact did come from them or if it’s a scam. Source the contact information online or from previous letters sent by the company. If the phishing email appears to have come from TalkTalk, then check out TalkTalk's scam support page.

 

  • Has someone called your landline, and your landline phone hasn’t rung?
  • When you call your landline (from another landline or mobile), does someone else answer the phone that you don’t recognise?
What you should do:

This is either a crossed-line fault or a fraudster. Either way you need to contact our faults department urgently who can assess this for you. Dial 150 from your TalkTalk landline to speak to TalkTalk Customer Services.

 

  • Are you seeing searches which suggest someone may be using your information to apply for services, loans, equipment, or mortgages?
  • Are there defaults for non-payments which you didn’t recognise?
  • Is there anything unusual on your credit file which you don’t recognise?
What you should do:

Check with your credit bureau. Look on previous communications sent by them (either email or letter) or visit their official webpage to get their contact information. Be extra vigilant when using the contact details on emails as they could be phishing attempts to try and scam you.

 

 

How to secure your personal details and accounts

If you have been a victim or believe that someone is attempting to defraud you by accessing your account(s), here are some recommended guidelines to follow:

  • Please make sure that you use unique passwords. A unique password will be different for each of your accounts, and should contain a mixture of letters, numbers, and symbols. Store them safely and do not share them with family or friends. Password Manager is included as part of our SuperSafe app, which can help create and store strong passwords.
  • It’s worth taking a minute to check your email addresses on websites such as Have I Been Pwned (Note that this is NOT a TalkTalk website). This is to see if your personal information has been compromised. If your details are appearing as compromised or are listed in any of the search results then it’s time to consider changing passwords. You can also select the Password section along the top menu and check if you password is a common password. If it is, you need to change it to make it unique.

 

Securing your TalkTalk account

To complete the suggestions in this section, you will need access to your TalkTalk account. If you've not signed up yet, check out Registering for My Account to find out how to create an online TalkTalk account.
Once you've got an online account, here are some steps you can use to secure your information:

If you use TalkTalk’s online account, please reset your password & consider using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) :

  • Visit My Account
  • If you can’t remember the email address you use to log into My Account, recover your account using Username recovery
  • If you can't remember the password you use to log into My Account, you might need to Reset your password
  • For additional account security, you can optionally set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for My Account. You will need to download an app to your mobile phone which will be used to authenticate each time your My Account is accessed. Head over to My details and settings, and then select the Account Security box to set this up

 This is the main account password you quote when you contact us, whether it be by phone, email, SMS or apps. To add a new account password or change your existing account password in My Account, visit our Telephone Password page.

 To change the mobile number and email address we use to send communications to you, visit My details.

 To turn on HomeSafe (scam protection & virus alerting), visit our HomeSafe page.

 

Securing your information outside of TalkTalk

Your TalkTalk account might not be the only account you have online. For example, you might have phone apps and accounts on other websites where your sensitive information needs to be protected. Here are some steps you can use to secure your information on other websites:

We would urge you to have all devices that you use to access the internet checked for viruses, spyware & adware etc., especially if you have clicked on a phishing email, been a victim of a scam, or if you have allowed someone to remotely connect to your device. This doesn’t mean you have to purchase another device, it just needs to be checked to ensure it's safe from future fraud attempts.

Please check your bank account for recent activity and consider contacting your bank to alert them of potential unauthorised access, payments, or even a new Direct Debit setup. If you use online or an app, reset the password(s) periodically to ensure they remain secure.

If you have access to your credit file, check it for any unusual activity such as searches as this may be a prelude to fraud. Report anything suspicious to your credit bureau. If you use online or an app, reset the password(s) periodically to ensure they remain secure.

As a precaution, you should consider resetting the passwords to any mailboxes, forums, websites, or apps where you use a username and password. These may include banking like PayPal, Social Media like Facebook or X, maybe even any Google accounts you own linked to other apps such as YouTube. Please make sure that you use unique passwords for each account. Password Manager is included as part of our SuperSafe app, which can help create and store strong passwords.  

 

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