Thousands of Three Mobile customers hit by major fraud attack | Express.co.uk

Three Mobile FRAUD - thousands more customers now revealed to be affectedFRAUD investigation reveals Three Mobile breach last November affected thousands more customers than previously

thought. By Michael Moore 13:56, Tue, Mar 14, 2017 | UPDATED: 15:32, Tue, Mar 14, 2017 Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark

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Three Mobile customers have been urged to check their security protection after reports claimed that many could be at risk from a wide-ranging fraud attack.

The company has revealed that thousands more customers were affected by an online assault which hit it last November.

This saw customer accounts hijacked by scammers looking to order and sell out new handsets, leaving users out of pocket.

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Three originally confirmed that 133,827 customers had been hit by the attack last November.

However following an internal investigation, the company says that an additional 76,373 more accounts may have been affected, increasing the number of compromised account by 57 per cent.

Personal data such as names, addresses, dates of birth and method of payment had been accessed and could be used elsewhere, Three said. 

However no bank details or passwords had been compromised.

In a statement, Three emphasised that no fraudulent activity had taken place specifically on customer accounts, and that all affected users had been contacted.

"We have continued to work closely with law enforcement to support the ongoing investigation. During the course of the investigation, additional files were recovered as part of the same

activity which we have analysed," the company added.

"We ask customers to be cautious about anyone contacting them... We advise caution when dealing with other service providers you may use.”

"As always, customers should never give out any banking information.”

The attack last November was blamed on hackers using an employee login to access its customer upgrade database, potentially putting its nine million-strong UK customer base at risk.

The hackers accessed customer accounts and upgraded them in order to intercept the new phones and sell them on. 

Three only discovered the breach after customers filed complaints claiming that scam callers were attempting to gain access to their bank accounts. 

If you think you've been the victim of a cyber-attack, you can check out Express.co.uk's guide to the next steps to take here.