Troubleshooter Consumer Alert: Cell Phone Scam
ROXBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- It started with a phone call, but ended with hours of frustrations for Kathy Whitlow.
Kathy got a call from (919) 555-5050. She says, "They said they were a Verizon representative, and they wanted to ask me a few questions for a survey and in exchange they would give me a $20 credit for each phone on my account." Kathy adds the caller had a lot of her Verizon account information. "The numbers, my address, my home phone number, and he sounded really authentic."
Kathy says she gave the caller the last four digits of her social security number and her account password, and answered the questions in exchange for the $20 credit per line, since she had five different lines. She didn't have any problems until two days later. She says, "I got on my computer and it was just an enormous bill."
She tried to use her cell phone to call Verizon, but she says, "It wouldn't call anybody. It wouldn't text anybody. It kept failing."
Kathy used her home phone to call Verizon and learned the bad news; the scammers changed her phone number, tried to upgrade her service from the basic service to a smart phone, tried to make international calls, changed her billing to paperless, and ordered $200 worth of accessories.
While Kathy is working with Verizon trying to get back the control over her account, she has this advice for others, "If you don't recognize the number that's calling, don't answer it. Let them leave you a message, and if it's legit you call them back and find out if the number is real.
The best advice, if you do get one of these calls do not answer any questions that give them control of your account, like the password or your social security number. If you think it is a legit call, hang up, and then you look up the number for that company and initiate the call to see if it is real. It may take a few extra minutes, but will save you a lot of frustration in the long run.
