RECEIVING one new phone that you hadn’t ordered would raise questions for most people.
But when five smart phones arrived at his home in Woodmancote in just one morning, Charles Perry knew something was amiss.
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Charles Perry with the smart phones
He now believes he was caught up in a scam which could be targeting residents in the village.
Just two weeks ago, Echo editor Kevan Blackadder avoided being caught out by the con when an iPad he had not ordered turned up at his home.
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Mr Perry, managing director of AVM Storage in Lansdown Industrial Estate, is now warning people to be on their guard.
The 33-year-old said it was part of fraud scheme which could leave victims heavily out-of-pocket if they fall for it.
Phones, which have been ordered using stolen credit cards, are being delivered to homes as part of the scam before the victim receives a call saying it has been taken to the wrong house.
They ask for it to be left on the doorstep so that it can be collected and take to the right person – before driving off with it and leaving the victim to cover the cost of the phones.
Mr Perry said: “Two mobile phones arrived at my home in Woodmancote at around 9.30am.
“They were signed for by my wife Lisa, who contacted me straight away as we hadn’t ordered any new phones.
“I was already speaking to the networks when another one was delivered at 10am.
“All the packages had my name, address and date of birth on them.
“It appears they had been ordered with a stolen credit card – not one of mine – and fake bank details.
“While I was at home sorting out those three, another two arrived over the following hour.
“By 12.30pm, I had five brand new smart phones, all from different service providers.”
Mr Perry then spent hours calling all the services – Tesco, Carphone Warehouse, 3, Orange and Vodaphone – to alert them to the problem.
He also called police and has now warned the village could be the centre of the scam.
“They are certainly targeting certain areas,” he said.
“I’ve not heard from anybody since I contacted the networks so they must have been sent an email telling them the phones had been cancelled.”
Fiona Brown, from Cheltenham, was also caught up in the scam.
She said: “I had thought that it such an unusual scam that it was unlikely to have occurred to anyone else.”
A spokesman for Gloucestershire police said: “If anyone believes that they have been a victim of this type of crime then we urge them to contact Action Fraud immediately on 0300 123 2040.”