Help, please and thank you

[iPanda]

So there's this situation that I need advice on @_@

Here is what has occurred;

My mother and I stopped by a Best Buy to use the two upgrades she has on her Verizon line two get two new phones for her # and my grandmother's #. The worker looks her account up and finds that only one line is available to upgrade; my mom's #.

However that's not right since my Grandma's phone and my Mother's phone were both bought on the exact same day so both of their 2 year contracts should be finished.

The person does some digging and says that my Grandmother's line doesn't end for another 2 years; someone, on June 13, 2013, used my Grandmother's upgrade to get an iPhone (5, think? 5s? idk specifics) BUT kept my grandmother's phone on the account with her number. So there's a stray iPhone somewhere. The employee gives their thought that someone in our family probably used the upgrade without telling us.

That's not possible since the only people who know my mom's account information is my mom; who's using a flip phone - my brother; who's using an iPhone and a Galaxy under AT$T that he bought with his own money - and me; I use a Nokia, also on AT&T.

My mother and I go home - she asks my brother about it who has no idea what's she's talking about.

Today, we went into a Verizon store itself where we find out;

1) someone used the upgrade to order the iPhone then had it shipped to an address in Philadelphia.

2) someone on the same day (June 13) changed the account address to an address in Chesapeake, Virginia.

- Um, well, that's strange since my Mom lives in MD, and I live in VA; both of us are well over 2 hours away from Chesapeake.

I googled the Chesapeake address and found that it was the same area that we had camped at on June 13-14.

My theory is that while the wind's were blowing like crazy while we were camping, something with my mom's Verizon information got blown out of her car and someone decided to use it.

The Verizon store's employee suspects that someone may have sold the iPhone for money instead of using it themselves.

===

Anyways, I told the Verizon Customer Service what happened and they said that they'll have their Security people watch to see if any more things are shipped to the Philadelphia address.
They're not at all looking at the Chesapeake address even though we told them that it wasn't ours and we have NO idea who's it is.
All they're going to do is try and deactivate the iPhone so it can't be used anymore.

===

Is this something that has to be left for Verizon to solve? My mom wants to leave Verizon to solve but she doesn't seem to realize the fact that the person who has her account information has her SSN# as well seeing as how that's the number you use to verify that you're the account holder.
ALSO, Verizon says that my mom's the person over in Chesapeake SIMPLY BECAUSE THE PERSON OVER THERE KNOWS HER SSN#.

Is this something that is a police matter? Can I take it to the police?
Or is it a legal matter? Would it be something I take to a lawyer instead?

What should I do??

Help

[bhskittykatt]

I would contact the police. It's a case of identity theft. So start with the police. They may have some advice on where to take it from there.

[Seshat]

Start with the police. And go now. Take the whole story, take whatever information you can from Verizon, and take your mother.

If your mother doesn't want to actually handle it, she can authorise you to; but a police will want someone to witness such authorisation. Usually the police officer you're talking to is a perfectly sufficient witness - if not, they'll almost certainly just call over some other officer.

So from her POV it could be just a matter of your mother proving that she's the one who has the rights to her SSN, and authorising you to chase it up in the presence of the police officer, and she can step back and leave it to the person who's concerned - IE you - to chase it up with the police.

From your POV, once you have that authority, the police can have the leverage to lean on Verizon and get the account rights back into your mother's hands; and whack Verizon on the nose with a rolled up newspaper until they give your Grandmother's upgrade back.

More importantly, they'll treat the theft as the crime it is, and go looking for the criminal - and what else he/she may have done with that identity information.

The police, you see, can get the warrant to require Verizon to give them the address information from Virginia.

[Arcus]

Here is another thing you mother may want to do. Run a credit check on herself. If this person used her SSN to get a phone, they may have used it to get a credit card (or several) as well. annualcreditreport.com is the true free site to get it from if she hasn't got a free one in the last 12 months.

[mathnerd]

I agree with all of the advise given so far, especially the advise to run a credit check. It's unlikely that this person only bought a phone with the information.

To that I will add this:

Verizon has a responsibility to its customers to take every measure possible to protect their customers from fraud. Verizon did not do this. They allowed somebody to call in, change the account information and order a new phone without fully verifying that this person was really their customer. Since they bear some culpability in this fraud, they bear the responsibility of making it right by your grandmother. The only acceptable solution for your grandmother is to have the upgrade she is entitled to immediately, and that any fall out from the fraud is borne only by Verizon and not by your grandmother or mother. Insist on it, and don't back down.

[Sapphire Silk]

I agree with everything here and would add one thing; have Mom's SSN locked down so no new credit can be issued without her express authorization.

It's a clear cut case of identity theft. Since it went across state lines, the FBI might be a better resource than local police, who may not want to get involved.

[Seshat]

Verizon has a responsibility to its customers to take every measure possible to protect their customers from fraud. Verizon did not do this. They allowed somebody to call in, change the account information and order a new phone without fully verifying that this person was really their customer. Since they bear some culpability in this fraud, they bear the responsibility of making it right by your grandmother. The only acceptable solution for your grandmother is to have the upgrade she is entitled to immediately, and that any fall out from the fraud is borne only by Verizon and not by your grandmother or mother. Insist on it, and don't back down.

The ID thief has so far:

- claimed the upgrade your grandmother owns. (Well, your mother, technically)
- stolen an iphone from Verizon. (From Verizon, because THEY dropped the ball on verifying who the upgrade-claimer was. Verizon still owes your family the upgrade.)

FBI page on identity theft
Make special note of 'Other resources' in the bottom right corner. It can't hurt to read all the advice from the FBI and other involved government agencies.

[iPanda]

When we went to the Verizon store, the employee called into Customer Service where they said they'll disconnect the iPhone and they did give the upgrade back to our account.

I told my mom that I'm going to contact the police about it but she's like "wait until your aunt wakes up and tell her first."

So, now I'm just sitting here and waiting... and waiting...
Why do I suspect my aunt on staying in her room and playing candy crush on her phone?

[Sunshine]

All of what everyone else said and hugs. Thats all i got

[iPanda]

Update:

THANK YOU EVERYONE for the help <3 <3

We filed a police report and now we're pushing with verizon to get the extra nonauthorized charges to be refunded.
We're following the police officer's tips, too.
Thank you~~

[Seshat]

I'm very glad you filed the police report, and are following police advice on this.

If you later find that there are other unauthorised charges on other accounts, or other ID hassles related to other places, the police report will help you. Also, the police can now act to try to identify the thief.