DO NOT Let Verizon Move Phone Numbers/Contacts For You!

NickRac

ก้้้้้้&
Jan 9, 2009
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Greenwich, CT
www.racanelligroup.com
This thread is a warning to all WickedFire members - I guess it should be a no-brainier but sometimes we forget. The following story took place at the Fairfield, CT Verizon Wireless Store

Long Version (Short Below):

I upgraded this week to the new Verizon Blackberry Tour from the storm. My sales guy was very helpful through-out the process and moved all my contacts/data for me. Little did I know he was double copying the numbers - which explained the 25+ minutes it took to copy over my contacts and limited number of emails.

The very next morning my grandmother (Yes I am only 22) got a call from the "Toronto Sheriff's Department. A sheriff announced that I had gotten intoxicated while partying with my friends in Canada and was arrested. I needed help posting bail so I could get out. They even put "me" on the line. They knew my full name, birthdate and my BUSINESS (this is key) billing address.

The most interesting fact...she got this phone call on a DEDICATED emergency number that she gave ONLY to her 5 grand children. Her own children do not even have this number nor do ANY of her friends - and sure enough it was stored as "ICE grandma" in my phone - bad decision on my part.

"I" gave her a sob story about the conditions of the jail and the sheriff gave her a strict list of orders which involved going to the bank, withdrawing cash and wiring it from her local Walmart. She made sure not to "tell mom or dad" - just as she was told to do.

She complied quickly (she's 78 years old and losing it) and proceeded to call me AFTER she sent the money, asking I call her back when I was in the country. Obviously I was perplexed by this question and quickly figured out what happened. I had her report to her police department and report the case. Luckily the idiot Walmart worker (who I am now grateful for) got caught up in a "personal phone call" and didn't send the $2,900 wire. My grandmother did get her money back.


Short Version:
While visiting the Fairfield, CT Verizon Wireless store, an employee double copied my contacts and sold/gave them to scammers who nearly scammed my aging grandmother out of $2,900. This employee now still has all of my contacts and information which he is probably selling to rogue mobile advertisers.

Let this story be a warning to you. Secure your phones.

DO NOT let Verizon Wireless or any other cellphone company employees transfer your contacts or make backups.

Do not let your phone leave your site while in the hands of a Verizon employee or any other cell phone company employee.

DO warn your loved ones, especially grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle about scams like this.

Do Change contact names from "grandma" to Jane Doe - or whatever their name is.

DO have a "password" or some system to identify yourself to anyone you have stored in your phone with the prefix/suffix "ICE"

Even if your contacts are double copied and NOT sold to scammers - they are still being sold to mobile advertisers for a few bucks under the table.

Nick
 


Wow. Surreal. I imagine this could happen at any cellular store b/c I had my contacts transferred to my iPhone at ATT when I got it, so I'm assuming the same scenario could happen across the board.

However, they'd be in for a sour surprise when they call my grandma, whose tight on money even towards her family. They'd probably get a "you shouldn't have done whatever you did" and then proceed to get cussed out in the heaviest southern old black woman dialect you've ever heard.
 
Wow. Ya do d1gg. This story has linkbait written all over it.

Your writing is good. Fill in some of the details a bit or explain what the hell "ice" means or omit it.

Post it on a IM, SEO or something blog as a story. Submit to d1gg and come back here with a link.

Start it AM friday or monday and it might take off.
 
Wow. Ya do d1gg. This story has linkbait written all over it.

Your writing is good. Fill in some of the details a bit or explain what the hell "ice" means or omit it.

Post it on a IM, SEO or something blog as a story. Submit to d1gg and come back here with a link.

Start it AM friday or monday and it might take off.

Ya, then find a way to monetize it.

DO get LifeLock to protect yourself from potential identity theft.

DO run a free credit report to make sure nothing is there that shouldn't be

Probably more.
 
So your grandma is an illegal? ICE?

In Case of Emergency.

NickRac, crazy story, thanks for sharing. I never trust those shits anyway, but still, I wouldn't have thought it would go so extreme. Wonder how many other people he's done this to and gotten away with it?

Any news on what's happening to the store/employee in question?
 
This kind of con is very common in Indonesia. Often I got SMS where I win money. Then people are told to send money for tax or sometimes told to press some buttons they're not aware.

I reported them but cops don't care and banks do not divulge scammers identity.

Reporting to cops means you ended up paying more money.
 
Civil and Criminal charges all over this one. If it happened to me, they would already be filed (although you have to prove he did it). I would assume they have store surveillance cameras?
 
Tryign to answer as much as I can while running in and out...

ICE = In Case of Emergency.

I did revisit the store, furious, and was told there was nothing anyone could/would do because I had no proof.

Local police said that they couldn't do anything, rather the local police where the fraud occurred (my grandmother's town) would have to contact them.

When I walked into the store and confronted the employee in front of other customers I was addressed by a VERY rude manager saying I cannot speak to employees in that manner and I needed to leave - again stating I had no proof of anything.

No charges can be filled because as far as the law goes...me KNOWING what happened doesn't mean shit

I did file a fraud case w/ Verizon support who gave me the SAME story "You have no proof". I requested a supervisor call me - still NOTHING
 
What about getting the phone number that called your grandmother? If she has caller Id that's easy. If not the phone company should be able to give it to you with a call. That might be a lead and then go from there. If they used a pre paid or pay phone it may be difficult but its a start. Hopefully you get the bastards. This kind of shit gets my blood boiling.
 
Nick - In-store support/contact transfers/new phone setup/anything at the tech desk is actually handled by Home - Flextronics , not directly Verizon employees.

My suggestion is to talk to Flextronics about this, and see if they have any info. Maybe even bring some sort of legal charges against the store - They should have some sort of CCTV system in there to monitor things, so I'm sure they can find out what employee worked on your phone, in order to investigate further. And if that doesn't work, contact your state attorney general's office, and the BBB. I know the BBB is a for-profit organization, but reputable merchants don't like having complaints open with the BBB.

Actually, even better, send this in to http://www.consumerist.com , or contact a local news station's "investigative reporting" people. Nobody likes bad publicity.
 
I actually used to work for Verizon / Airtouch at a retail store a long time ago. If I logged into an account for any reason it was logged I believe. It was the last page in the comments. It was logged even if I jsut looked / confirmed names plans on the account. Then I could change the basic login record to reflect what I did on the account.

If they want to or are forced to by a subpoena they will look through the comments. It is all there.

Customers that call in or walk in often have a very busy comment section.

I would refer weird walkin legal questions to the legal department. Not only that I was instructed to.

Some Verizon managers are morons. That is why I quit and started IM fulltime.

Verizon | Customer Support Contacts

I really cannot imagine it changing with the instore support getting outsourced. Back when I was there the only person that was outsourced was the greeter.

But they will want the bad apple gone even more than you. They just dont want to get sued by giving you more ammunition. And the store manager wants the problem out of his store as soon as possible.