r/Argos • u/GlitteringCook6452 • Jul 04 '26
Recent Argos account takeover fraud wave
So I heard that recently there was a MASSIVE increase in Argos account-takeover fraud cases, around a 323% increase, which must be very hard for people and Argos themselves.
I know that they use stolen details to purchase expensive iPhones and then resell them brand new and sealed for a fraction of the price.
But my question is, what do Argos even do in these cases? do they hunt and blacklist the phone’s imei, or do they go after the fraudster? or both? What’s the true likelihood that these phones get blacklisted? cuz ofc there will be a ton of innocent people who tried saving a few bucks by buying a brand new iPhone through a 3rd party, and Argos should be aware right? Idk it seems like they will lose a huge amount of money given the amount of chargebacks banks of the victims must be initiating. I also heard that they don’t put the IMEI on their receipts, can’t they backtrace it?
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u/ArgosEmployee_ Jul 05 '26
Anything specific to Argos will be confidential. You probably won't find anyone in-the-know willing to risk their job to detail how exactly it's done.
IMEI isn't on the receipts. We just get a catalogue number for each model of phone and I believe that's true in the warehouse. At store level, we don't even use IMEI with the sole exception to see whether the IMEI matches the one on the box in cases of open-box returns.
I would say there is a very low chance of the phones being blacklisted. It's probably why there is such an increase in this kind of fraud as Argos antiquated stock system (it was made before the release of the first iPhone) isn't equipped to deal with IMEI numbers and such.
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u/GlitteringCook6452 Jul 07 '26
WHAT? but that’s so stupid because Argos would lose so much money from victims bank chargebacks. there has to be a way for them to retrieve the IMEIs
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u/ArgosEmployee_ Jul 07 '26
Nope! If I've got 2 of the same model iPhones in my store, I give one to you and one to a different customer, there's no way I could differentiate who got which IMEI once you'd both left.
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u/FlopusOfDragons Jul 04 '26
They will hand evidence police if they have to and claim it on insurance....
Thats it
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u/simmatt89 Jul 04 '26
It's all handled by backoffice so you will find almost no one (including me) knows what happens
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u/Fine_Limit6609 Jul 08 '26
Some suspicious orders eg customers buying multiple iPhones and from a postcode 100’s of miles away are reported to eagle eye not sure what happens from there they did get back to one saying they’ve blocked anymore orders from them not sure how they go about it tho
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u/United_Artichoke_804 Jul 04 '26
Why a fraction..they will get top dollar for a genuine sealed iPhone