OnePlus phone company investigates card fraud claims

OnePlus manufactures its phones at a factory in Shenzhen, China

Android phone company OnePlus is investigating claims that customers' credit card numbers have been stolen after they used its online shop.

The company has stopped taking credit card payments while it investigates.

It was alerted to the issue by a customer message on its support site which linked a purchase on the site to fraudulent activity on their account.

Then, that message prompted a flurry of replies from other customers reporting similar experiences.

OnePlus said it was auditing its site as it investigated.

In a statement, OnePlus said the fraud reports had come from customers who had bought phones directly from its oneplus.net website.

"This is a serious issue and we are investigating around the clock," it added.

A poll on the support site suggests more than 200 people, across many different countries, have seen fraudulent charges, ranging from $50 (£36) to $3,000, appear on cards used on the site.

In some cases, banks and card processors flagged the transactions as fraudulent and stopped the payments.

OnePlus said it did not do any card processing itself nor did it save any payment information surrendered when people purchased its phones.

Instead, it said, it passed all data to a partner who handled the payment process.

It said information security was a priority and it would update customers once its investigation was complete.

During the suspension, customers could still buy phones and peripherals using Paypal, said OnePlus. It was also exploring other secure ways to pay.