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Original poster

littlewoods fraud...

31 replies

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 18:40

My OH discovered today that someone had ordered over £1000 of stuff using his Littlewoods account. Somehow they had got into both LittlewoodsDirect and Littlewoods.com and ordered from both. To do this Littlewoods say they would have had to know his password and, to change the delivery address, his date of birth.

Thing is I went into my own account to test this by changing the delivery address and not once did it ask me to enter my date of birth as verification.

Whoever did it was so stupid that they failed to change the email address on his account so he was alerted by the confirmation e-mail which was sent to his work e-mail. On the email he got was the person's delivery address which I looked up on the electoral register and we now have a name of the person who lives there. Weirdly the address is in the same block of flats as a good friend who is now in a panic incase it's somehow connected to him even though he doesn't know the person in that flat.

So... anyone had this happen to them? Littlewoods have put a stop on his account and have cancelled the order.

Now we have a name and an address, can we do anything about it? Littlewoods fraud people say they will invesatigate but considering they don't seem to know their arses from their elbows re the date of birth thing we're wondering if there's anything we can do - go to the police?

Anyone here work for Littlewoods?

OP posts:

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 18:43

Have you been charged for the order?

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 18:47

No - not charged, it's all ok. Had the person changed the email details online then my OH half would have been non the wiser, also had it happened later this week he wouldn't have known because we're off on holiday (Well to a festival) on Wednesday by which time some of the items would have been dispatched.

So the money thing is all ok, we're just annoyed and worried that this person has got more information about my OH that we are unaware of.

Also the fact that they live so close to our friend has freaked him (the friend) out a bit because he's wondering if he's had his computer hacked (though there would be no reason for him to have my OHs passwords etc) and has also changed all his important passwords etc.

OP posts:

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 18:52

I should imagine that the fact the address is in the same block of flats as a friend of yours in a pure coincidence.

As long as you have not been charged, then I wouldn't go to the police, there is not really much they can/will do.

I would suggest changing your passwords to more difficult combinations, and be wary of what you are putting into the bin. Also, make sure you have an encryption on your computer so it cannot be hacked into, though this is not as common as it used to be.

Do you know the person whose address it was? I would personally ring them up and ask them about it.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 18:53

Meant to say - the chances of it being someone from Littlewoods, an employee, are reasonably high, which also may explain why Littlewoods have said they will investigate personally.

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 19:17

DSM - we wondered about this... that it could be someone who works for Littlewoods. Our friend is in London - we're in Wales. perhaps it is a coincidence.

When we told him he thought we were playing some kind of elaborate joke as it is the sort of thing they may do to eachother.

OP posts:

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 19:21

It absolutely could be coincidence, it probably is. Either that or, and I hate to say it as you described him as a good friend, he could be involved.

CarGirl · 23/06/2008 19:27

I would contact the police it's attempted identity theft??? Happened to SIL someone in London ordered shed loads of stuff on her account and she knew nothing about it until the statement came through - she hadn't even used the account in months/years. It was possibly choice catalogue but I think they're the same company?

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 19:30

No - we have absolutely no worries about that He wouldn't do that and he wouldn't have access to my OHs password. The only thing we can think of is that someone has accessed his (My OH's) computer somehow and retreived passwords etc... or that they have done the same to the friend (got into his computer) and then accessed all his contacts, though that seems highly unlikely.

BTW the name on the order was totally different to the name on the electoral register. The person on the electoral register seems to be the only person of voting age who is registered to vote in the UK. We've even found Bebo and Facebook accounts for someone with that name.

it's all quite intriguing!

OP posts:

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 19:31

I mean - the only person on the electoral register with that name

OP posts:

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 19:38

Interesting!

I don't think it is identity theft as that is slightly different, and I don't think the police will care as you have not actually had anything stolen.

Does your DH keep his passwords on his computer? The more likely scenario is that someone has guessed it, rather than hacked in, as thats much less prevalent now. Guessing normally involves someone getting to 'know' you, either through stealing from your bins, finding out partners/childrens names, DOB's etc, common password themes.

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 19:51

he doesn't keep them anywhere but he may click that 'remember me' thing - is that what you mean?

We've discovered another address for this person which we are thinking might be his parents.

OP posts:

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 19:58

No, the 'remember me' thing only works from your own IP address.

Very strange.. it is definitely worth trying to figure out how this happened though.

Have you rang up the person who lives at the delivery address?

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 21:00

We've tried, no answer.

All very odd. Is actually causing no end of worry and paranoia for our friend who even though he isn't to blame feels a bit weird about it all.

OP posts:

DirtySexyMummy · 23/06/2008 21:08

What a shame. I am sure it is just a strange coincidence. Not really any reason they should be connected.

I'd keep ringing. Maybe get your friend to keep a watch on the house, let you know when someone is in. Withhold your number, don't forget.

duomonstermum · 23/06/2008 21:36

have you done a virus scan? it's possible that you've somehow picked up a trojan horse that may have put your details out there, esp if he tends to click remember me. i only found out about this when my BIL did a complete scan on my laptop. i changed all my passwords etc sharpish i can tell you that much. i now make sure i log out of each site and def don't open any emails that i'm not sure of. plus i run the avg scan every night.

Original poster

beaniesteve · 23/06/2008 22:33

He's done one now and some things have come up but I'm not sure what. He's going to re-install his computer or whatever it is you have to do and has changed all passwords.

He hardly ever orders things but did place an order from his laptop for some waterproofs a week or so ago.

Hmmmmm - I'm sure it'll get sorted and I guess he's just lucky he found out so early on - the email came straight to him when the orders were placed! Obviously he's a bit worried though.

OP posts:

Original poster

beaniesteve · 24/06/2008 10:29

HAH! ooks like he's found them! he found a mobile number and called and someone rang back and so my OH asked if they were expecting a TV and some jeans and they said YES!

OP posts:

CarGirl · 24/06/2008 10:54

I hope you report them to the police!

Original poster

beaniesteve · 24/06/2008 10:58

I'm not sure. That's what I have told my OH to do but he seems to think they won't do anything. Littlewoods are looking at it but I think all they will do is stop the order.

Anyway - when he spoke to them the person on the phone (Who sounded young) said his uncle had ordered them from Littlewoods. So my OH said 'well just to let you know, you won't be getting them'

Not sure what this achieves but I guess it makes him feel better.

OP posts:

bentneckwine1 · 24/06/2008 11:28

This happened to me many years ago. We were selling our flat and had already moved out of the town so our estate agents were showing viewers round our flat in our absence.

We only found out that somebody had opened a Littlewoods account when a parcel was redirected by our friendly OAP neighbour who saw it lying on the doorstep and took it upon hersef to post it up to us. Littlewoods told us that it was much more common than you would think...was before internet ordering though...and they wrote off the outstanding balance on return of the goods...which were never ever going to fit me!! (Size 8's and I was at that point 16/18!!!) Police seemed quite disinterested and said it was a matter for Littlewoods.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.

juicymelon · 28/06/2008 13:32

Hi,i work for littlewooods in 1 of their call centre's (not for much longer tho)
They will look into it, but as far as i know they are pretty much unable to do much about it unless there have been previous orders that have gone out to the fraudulant address,
it shame's to say but it could possibly have been by an employee of littlewoods it has happened before. This is one of the reasons i am leavin the company!(people involved were prosecuted but doesnt mean that other staff wont and havent done it) im sure it happens in lots of similar business not just littlewoods.

anyway back to your dilema if you keep on at the fraud investigation team and tell them you want regular updates they should do more about it than if you just leave it be.

hope this helps a bit(dont mean 2 scare any littlewoods customers most of the staff like myself are honest people but there are always a few baddn's)
sorry didnt realise it was this long!

ivykaty44 · 28/06/2008 13:38

There may be a reason the address was picked - it is flats and therefore comunal entrance for packages to be left?

bentneckwine1 · 28/06/2008 14:52

ivykaty...you are right about the address being picked for a reason. The flat we were selling was a top floor tenement (really old building and had no security entry etc). The parcels were just left by the postie on a table inside the front door which was never locked by some of the other residents. Fortunately you then required access through another locked door on each landing to access individual flats...so the postie had no hope of leaving parcels on your own front doorstep.

If my friendly neighbour hadn't spotted the parcel and posted it on to me I would have been none the wiser about it. I had a feeling that the somebody in the estate agents had something to do with it...passed the details on to littlewoods but never did hear the outcome of it all. By then we had moved away and the flat was sold so I guess littlewoods must have just written the loss off.

bentneck

Joannajuki · 23/01/2009 10:25

I haven't even got a Littlewoods account but believe me, I will never, ever open one!! Their website and ordering systems are completely insecure and they know it but refuse to do anything about that. We have had nearly £2000 worth of goods sent out fraudulently by someone who has entered my name and address and birthdate - It first happened in 2006 and it took me days to try to sort it. Littlewoods were unhelpful from the start.

Then yesterday, to my shock, we had a phone worth £376 delivered here! The fraudsters were probably counting on that we were not here and waiting outside to get the goods from our neighbour.

Littlewoods had promised me last time to put me on a national database to stop this happening again to me, but obviously that didn't work. They are so irresponsible I feel they should be held accountable. Unfortunately the police do not want to know!

FAQtothefuture · 23/01/2009 10:34

you don't need to enter your birthdate to change your delivery details (I just changed my address on my littlewoodsdirect account as I'm moving next week anyhow). I just logged in with email address, password and postcode and changed it very easily.

I did once ring Littlewoods Direct to find out why I couldn't log into my account........only to discover that I was trying to log into Littlewoods, the wrong one

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