Freedom of information - security issue with Meteor

smelltheglove

Ok so I wont go into huge detail but the just of the situation is this, my daughter has a meteor phone, this is not working at the minute. Whilst trying to get it sorted I was told a sim swap had taken place. I informed the agent this was not the case to which I was told the system cannot be wrong.

So my issue is, my 8 yr old child cannot order a new sim card for her phone, I have not done so, neither has her father or step father. If I am to believe the agent that the system cannot be wrong and it has happened, someone unknown to me has gained access to her account, obviously needing her private details to do so and obtained access to her phone number. This can cause security issues, in my opinion, if someone was to do this then they could quite possibly be replying to messages from her pals and the threat to safety would more so be to her frieds than herself, again in my opinion.

Now if I am to be completely honest I do not believe a sim swap has taken place, I could have been fobbed off, as can happen with these sort of call centres. When put under pressur eobviously there was no supervisor or manager present, there were a few stutters when comreg were mentioned and I took all details of the call. I requested email address of supervisor and name to contact in the morning, I explained I would like the details of when and where this took place so I can address who it may possibly have been but these details were declined to me.

I have sent an email to the 'manager' in question and I explained the whole situation. I requested the information stating the freedom of information act, is there anything else I should do?

If I am again fobbed off and denied this information what should I do next? I would like to be prepared for the conversation and any bull that is given to me as this is either a complete f*** up on their part by trying to fob me off or a very very serious issue.

I know it sounds a bit mad but I am sure you guys can comprehend firstly that I am not blindly taking their word for it but I do need to adress the possibility of it too.

enda1

Why do you think this was not the case??

Can you look at the sim and is it old looking?

Secondly the FOI applies I think only to Governmental departments/public bodies.
Its more a matter of the Data Protection Act regarding her data, and I am not sure what you are entitled to.

Most likely of course no one is stealing her data, in the end they have her phone records anyway and have all the necessary information to duplicate her account and fake her number without taking her sim card.

I'm a bit confused as to what you actually want...?

smelltheglove

The sim was only bought in feb this year however this has no relation to a sim swap, the definition of a sim swap was that if the sim is damaged the owner would request a sim swap, be it a new sim sent out or the number being applied to a different sim card. I did not request this, at 8 yrs of age my daughter could not do this so either they are correct in saying this happened and someone did this under false pretences or they were trying to fob me off with a silly excuse for the phone not working to get me off the phone, since the email address given to me has returned my mail as undelivered I am more inclined to put my money on the fact that they were trying to fob me off.

What I want is either as much information as possible as to who may have duplicated her account if this ever actually happened. If it happened, worst case scenario, lets call the pertson who has her duplicated sim weirdo. This person obviously knows where she lives and the fact she is a child. So weirdo stands at the end of her road and receives a message from her pal, pal asks where she is, weirdo says around the corner come meet me, pal goes to meet weirdo.... Anyway far fetched but if they allowed someone to duplicate her sim card how the hell would they know this could not happen...? This is my issue if what I have been told is true.

My other issue would be that they have just fed me a line to get away with not sorting otu the real issue, which was the network not allowing the phone to make any calls.

My reason for requesting info under the freedom of information would be to ascertain whether or not the card was duplicated, I could then make her friends and parents aware that someone unknown to me has her number and were those children to text or call her they would not be talking to my daughter.

I apologise but I thought these sort of issues would be clear enough.

Thoie

Well, one thing to do tonight after she's asleep is ring her phone and see what happens - send a text to it as well.

enda1 is right - FOI only applies to government information. Under the data protection act you can request copies of all details held about the account (there may be a charge for this).

I think the first thing to do is call back in the morning, ask to speak to a supervisor, and ask for the day, date and time of the sim swap (as per their system) and details of who authorised that to take place. If a supervisor is not available (in a meeting) ask when will that meeting end. The agent on the phone should still be able to give you the details from their system. Then tell them you want to know if that SIM is currently active, and the rough location of where it is (they should be able to give you the nearest mast).

In the short term tell them that you are now requesting a new sim swap, to be posted to your address.

TeaServer

Hi,

Is the SIM Swap the reason for the problem your child is having with the mobile service or the solution to the problem?

While a SIM swap may have happened, there is no need to assume anything untoward has caused it. It could simply be that Meteor ordered the SIM swap as the solution to your issue and a SIM card will be sent to you/your child in the next day or 2.

Or have I missed something?

/T

smelltheglove

Thoie wrote: »

Well, one thing to do tonight after she's asleep is ring her phone and see what happens - send a text to it as well.

enda1 is right - FOI only applies to government information. Under the data protection act you can request copies of all details held about the account (there may be a charge for this).

I think the first thing to do is call back in the morning, ask to speak to a supervisor, and ask for the day, date and time of the sim swap (as per their system) and details of who authorised that to take place. If a supervisor is not available (in a meeting) ask when will that meeting end. The agent on the phone should still be able to give you the details from their system. Then tell them you want to know if that SIM is currently active, and the rough location of where it is (they should be able to give you the nearest mast).

In the short term tell them that you are now requesting a new sim swap, to be posted to your address.

Thanks Thoie, they did say the sim was active. I tried to call but it was just this number cannot be reached. I think I will send a text now that you mention it, I was thinking if a sim swap took place and it was someone planning that then it would be texts answered rather than calls, I really want to believe they were just trying to fob me off though. I mean why would someone want to duplicate an 8 yr olds sim card if it was not for devious reasons, and if someone did, who the hell has my daughters info.

I will quote the data protection, I did ask for the info of when and where the request to sim swap was made but I was declined that information, even after stating that it was a childs safety at risk the agent still declined. It has really annoyed me all the same.

Thoie

smelltheglove wrote: »

I will quote the data protection, I did ask for the info of when and where the request to sim swap was made but I was declined that information, even after stating that it was a childs safety at risk the agent still declined. It has really annoyed me all the same.

Point out (calmly, I know you're probably in knots) that as the child's legal guardian, it's technically your account, and there is no reason for them to withhold that information. It's 99% likely that someone in Meteor was either being lazy or trying to fob you off. If someone has managed to get the SIM, it's as likely (if not more so) that they were doing it to steal the credit rather than for anything dodgier.

I don't know if they'd have records, but I'd also ask for details of the last 10 numbers called/texted so that you can see if it compares to the phone memory itself.

smelltheglove

TeaServer wrote: »

Hi,

Is the SIM Swap the reason for the problem your child is having with the mobile service or the solution to the problem?

While a SIM swap may have happened, there is no need to assume anything untoward has caused it. It could simply be that Meteor ordered the SIM swap as the solution to your issue and a SIM card will be sent to you/your child in the next day or 2.

Or have I missed something?

/T

After being unable to come up with a reason for the issues I was told there was a sim swap that had taken place recently. Now this would mean that the old sim, the one my daughter has would not work, However if it were meteor who ordered the sim swap, why not tell me??? Also meteor were not aware of an issue until this evening, it is the first time we contacted them about the issue with the phone.

smelltheglove

Thoie wrote: »

Point out (calmly, I know you're probably in knots) that as the child's legal guardian, it's technically your account, and there is no reason for them to withhold that information. It's 99% likely that someone in Meteor was either being lazy or trying to fob you off. If someone has managed to get the SIM, it's as likely (if not more so) that they were doing it to steal the credit rather than for anything dodgier.

I don't know if they'd have records, but I'd also ask for details of the last 10 numbers called/texted so that you can see if it compares to the phone memory itself.

Im hoping it was to fob me off. Also now you mention last 10 numbers, they asked me 3 numbers recently dialled from the phone, her best friend, myself and my husband, now they found her friends number on recently dialled but not mine or my husbands, even though according to her phone they were dialled, I even gave the times and dates the numbers were dialled.

enda1

When did the phone stop working?
When was the last time you topped it up?
Can you access the online services at all?
What does "her hone doesn't work" mean? - like what happens when its switched on?

smelltheglove

enda1 wrote: »

When did the phone stop working?
When was the last time you topped it up?
Can you access the online services at all?
What does "her hone doesn't work" mean? - like what happens when its switched on?

The phone stopped working in the last week or so, being such a kid she only uses it once or twice a week and forgets to charge it. It was topped up a couple of months ago but there is about 30 credit on it. The phone wont hook up the the network, when manually trying to connect it says not registered.

Thoie

smelltheglove wrote: »

The phone stopped working in the last week or so, being such a kid she only uses it once or twice a week and forgets to charge it. It was topped up a couple of months ago but there is about 30 credit on it. The phone wont hook up the the network, when manually trying to connect it says not registered.

Have you put her SIM card into your phone and tried it?

smelltheglove

Neither of us are meteor, we did mention this to the agent and they said they could see the sim was active on the network anyway. Its a lot of messing about really and it was after they asked me to try and connect to the network and the phone didnt allow it that they stated oh well it is active although I can see there has been a sim swap recently so that could be the issue. This is how we came about the fact that there was a sim swap but no more information was given to me on this issue regardless of my requests.

munstergirl

Hi op, get meteor to send you another sim, or call into a store to get a new one. The old sim card won't work anymore.

It could also be a case of a typo and someone in meteor did a sim change on wrong number by accident. (yes it can happen)

TeaServer

smelltheglove wrote: »

After being unable to come up with a reason for the issues I was told there was a sim swap that had taken place recently. Now this would mean that the old sim, the one my daughter has would not work, However if it were meteor who ordered the sim swap, why not tell me??? Also meteor were not aware of an issue until this evening, it is the first time we contacted them about the issue with the phone.

Ok, a SIM swap would certainly disable your current SIM and put you out of service. It is possible that a SIM swap happened mistakenly and now they need to complete another one to fix the issue. It is a bit strange that it would happen, but it is entirely possible, a mistake could have been made somewhere.

Meteor will be able to check if the SIM is attached to the network - though it is highly unlikely customer service have access to the systems to check this.

I'm just playing devils advocate here. Its likely there is no malice behind this.

smelltheglove

Ah I know tea, Im not a mad frantic person really, and I actually doubt it did happen but the fact that they would not give me any information as to why there was a sim swap or when it took place just really annoyed me and got me thinking of all reasons why they should tell me. This is pretty much why I want the information, just to put my mind at rest.

Munster I will certainly order another one for definite, I still want the information though as to what has happened, I feel we are entitled to that.

foggy_lad

smelltheglove wrote: »

The phone stopped working in the last week or so, being such a kid she only uses it once or twice a week and forgets to charge it. It was topped up a couple of months ago but there is about 30 credit on it. The phone wont hook up the the network, when manually trying to connect it says not registered.

the phone stopped working because the sim was deactivated due to a new sim being activated using your daughters account. only it was probably activated for a complete stranger. basically some new meteor customer has been given your daughters account including any credit she may have had and all her recent numbers from the online account section.

smelltheglove wrote: »

Im hoping it was to fob me off. Also now you mention last 10 numbers, they asked me 3 numbers recently dialled from the phone, her best friend, myself and my husband, now they found her friends number on recently dialled but not mine or my husbands, even though according to her phone they were dialled, I even gave the times and dates the numbers were dialled.

finding her friends number in recently dialled is strange unless the friend texted or rang her number and got someone else(the owner of the wrongly provisioned new simcard) and this person then rings the friend to find out who they are and why they are ringing their new number?

smelltheglove

foggy_lad wrote: »

the phone stopped working because the sim was deactivated due to a new sim being activated using your daughters account. only it was probably activated for a complete stranger. basically some new meteor customer has been given your daughters account including any credit she may have had and all her recent numbers from the online account section.

finding her friends number in recently dialled is strange unless the friend texted or rang her number and got someone else(the owner of the wrongly provisioned new simcard) and this person then rings the friend to find out who they are and why they are ringing their new number?

I completely agree with the first part there, it makes sense and when they said there was a new sim or duplicate somewhere I pretty much realised that would be why her sim wouldnt connect.. The second part is plausible, they better sort it out if they have done it, its not like the phone never gets used, if it rains she will use it to call friends and see if they want to come over and when she visits her dad I will call her to see how things are going.

smelltheglove

Well it seems I was correct in my initial thinking, a staff member trying to fob me off. I spoke to another agent today who told me within seconds the issue with the number was the fact it hadnt been topped up in a while. My daughter does not make very many calls so since her last top up was €20 and she had free credit ont he phone she has not needed any top ups. Fair enough I can easily top the phone up to keep it working.

Speaking to the agent this morning he called out the number on the sim card to ensure it had not been duplicated, the number matched that written on the sim card in the phone. There were no notes on the account to say there was a duplication, the card itself is only in existence since the end of 09. I supplied the agent with all the details I had of last nights conversation, including names and email address but it seemed he did not recognise any of the names and put it down to the possibility of new staff. I did say I would like to make a complaint about the false information supplied to me so he filled out a report whilst on the phone, taking all the details down, I was able to supply him with times of the calls and I was informed through searching calls made to them from my number they will be able to listen back to the conversations from last night and find out exactly who I was speaking to and take it from there. Apparently I will hear back in the next 48 hours.

I do think its a bit of an over the top excuse to give to someone if you do not want to deal with a matter or do not know how, a simple, can you call tomorrow and speak with someone who is better equipped to deal with the situation would suffice but I am thankful that the information given to me was wrong.

enda1

Good to hear its just bad customer and service and nothing more sinister.

So what's the solution? Will topping up solve the problem regarding the phone?

smelltheglove

enda1 wrote: »

Good to hear its just bad customer and service and nothing more sinister.

So what's the solution? Will topping up solve the problem regarding the phone?

Pretty much, I just call them when I buy some credit. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in regards to the complaint. I mean thats some serious excuse to give a parent to just fob them off. Thankfully they can listen back ont he recording and hear exactly what I was told.

Amalgam

SIM cards need to be topped up, they don't last long nowadays.

Regardless of credit, if there's inactivity, the SIM will be recycled. Thankfully, Vodafone text you every day for a week, leading up to the 'danger zone' for a SIM deactivation.

Do Meteor not send Text or Voice warnings, in the same situation?

witnessmenow

I lost my phone last week, and was absolutely amazed by how easily meteor let me replace the sim.

I walked into the meteor shop and stated i had loast my phone, they asked for my number, then my name and my address, then gave me a new sim! No ID or anything!