AT&T Account Fraud on the Rise -- Users Beware

[tallblondeguy]

I was the victim of recent fraud on my AT&T account.  Someone ordered 3 phones in my name and changed my call plan. After about a dozen clueless reps and totally clueless and non-customer-oriented managers & about 5 hours of phone calls (not exaggerating here, I tracked each call !) I think my issue is finally resolved (largely due to work I did, not anything AT&T did on my behalf.)   

I say all that to say this: The fraud that occurred on my account was likely internal, according to both AT&T Fraud and the local AT&T core store reps I spoke to.  AT&T Fraud is "investigating" (I doubt it, they seemed clueless). The AT&T core store reps indicated to me that this type of fraud is on the rise.  They had been helping several customers who came into their stores recently who were either sent (or detected the presense of) added phones to their accounts.

Why is this fraud on the rise? .. Likely because the phones that were ordered on my account are cheap in the US, but can be sold overseas for a lot more money.  In addition, the phones were loaded with SIM cards which would have been charged to me had I not been paying attention to my bill.        

Apparently, someone at AT&T ordered phones and sent them (strangely enough) to my address, likely in an attempt to intercept the package and sell the phones later.  Any attempts to intercept the package that day failed because I just happened to be home sick that day when the package arrived. 

Lessons learned?  (1) Be persistant. So many of the AT&T CSRs were apparently not well trained to handle my situation.  A couple hung up on me (probably not wanting to deal with the issue) and a couple of the "managers" hung up as well (probably because they are clueless/poorly trained.)  I had to make repeated calls to several reps and to Fraud to resolve my issue.  I then had to call AGAIN after my bill printed to get additional charges reversed. (2) Read your bills!  You never know what's going on. Always check your bill each month whether you are paperless or not. (3) Don't be afraid to file a complaint with AT&T Corporate and with your own company (my company has a relationship with AT&T which I am currently recommending we drop). (4) Add a password to your account.  I had to speak to Fraud to get this done. (5) Speak with your wallet!  If you don't get a resolution, as soon as you are able to contractually, cancel your service and go to someone else.

Bottom line for me?  AT&T has some great programs and phones, but when it came to a real, live, customer concern, they were clueless, unwilling to help in a timely manner, and are dealing with a clearly broken system to resolve issues, especially those pertaining to Fraud.

I'll be speaking with my wallet very soon.  If my company (a Fortune 100 Company) follows suit, which I hope they do, the loss to AT&T could be huge.  We'll see.              

[coolstorybro]

Interesting story there. I think there would be more justice if you actually figured out who was doing this to you like maybe setting a box outside to see if anyone comes to get it and catch them red handed. It's sad how a customer's experience with att can be shut down by people within att. You did more than enough in my opinion. gj

[Fiercekitty]

Wow... I wonder what led them to the conclusion it was "internal"

[Fiercekitty]

BTW.. For anyone reading this.. An acct password should b able to b added to acct by acct owner by calling 611 or visiting a corporate store. However..it can also b accessed by last 4 of social (in case of forgotten password.)

If u do not want any acct changes made jus by verifying last 4 of social..ask rep to add a priority note that no changes be made w/o password verification. Jus make *sure* you know password!

[RicoLX]

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tallblondeguy wrote:

I was the victim of recent fraud on my AT&T account.  Someone ordered 3 phones in my name and changed my call plan. After about a dozen clueless reps and totally clueless and non-customer-oriented managers & about 5 hours of phone calls (not exaggerating here, I tracked each call !) I think my issue is finally resolved (largely due to work I did, not anything AT&T did on my behalf.)   

I say all that to say this: The fraud that occurred on my account was likely internal, according to both AT&T Fraud and the local AT&T core store reps I spoke to.  ......

Lessons learned?  (1) Be persistant.

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This is why I have been calling AT&T every day since the system crashed over the weekend.  My account shows the following message stamped across my "UNLIMITED" data plan/feature section.

I have never made any changes nor authorized anyone to make changes to my account , data package, plan, messaging features or otherwise.  But  this mesage still persists.  Is anyone else seeing this message on their accounts?

CSR says nothings changed.... but...

(i can care less about up to the minute data usage showing up online, i am zeroing in on five words here "recent data/messaging feature change"... who changed it?)

[Wei2kool4u]

Hey I'm in the same problem with tallblondguy. Dealing with att is my worst experience, I got scam by att and some one has upgraded 3 of my phone to iPhone. The moment I find out the problem I went to local att customer service and report the fraud. It's been almost 2 months till today I got calls from att that there's no way they can help me.
So I got stuck with two years agreement that I didn't agreed nor I sign the contract. Many people who work in att are trying to help me but when it comes to the manager it's impossible to make them understand that I'm not the one who's responsible to find the theif. And I should not be responsible to taken this lost.
I been with att for years. My business use att, my home use att, and my wireless are all att. I have never had a late payment! Not at once.
But still instead of working together to find the victim. They blame the problem to me, saying I should call the police.

So anyway I canceled my wireless today. I'm going to change my business phone and Internet to time warner. I'm willing to pay all the termination fee as long as I sign the contract. But I won't not pay a dime for the 3 line.

I really thanks for reading my problem. If you have any better advice, please reply the post
Or call/text my cell phone {personal information removed}

Wei

Thanks

[RicoLX]

Wei2kool4u wrote:
Hey I'm in the same problem with tallblondguy. Dealing with att is my worst experience, I got scam by att and some one has upgraded 3 of my phone to iPhone. The moment I find out the problem I went to local att customer service and report the fraud. It's been almost 2 months till today I got calls from att that there's no way they can help me.
So I got stuck with two years agreement that I didn't agreed nor I sign the contract. Many people who work in att are trying to help me but when it comes to the manager it's impossible to make them understand that I'm not the one who's responsible to find the theif. And I should not be responsible to taken this lost.
I been with att for years. My business use att, my home use att, and my wireless are all att. I have never had a late payment! Not at once.
But still instead of working together to find the victim. They blame the problem to me, saying I should call the police.

So anyway I canceled my wireless today. I'm going to change my business phone and Internet to time warner. I'm willing to pay all the termination fee as long as I sign the contract. But I won't not pay a dime for the 3 line.

I really thanks for reading my problem. If you have any better advice, please reply the post
Or call/text my cell phone {personal information removed}

Wei

Thanks

....well,...if you were scammed once,. why are you posting your cell phone number , open to the world to see and possibly use ?....
 


 

[Wei2kool4u]

Rico your right. But posting a phone number is alot safer than people think. Instead I'll get a quick response on my problem. Well I'll take it down.
Thanks
Wei

[Sum330]

Same strory here. I am posting because i wanted to make other people aware of the situation. Got an email from ATT order department that i have ordered 2 brand new wireless phones. I called immediately to verify the order and who has placed it. I was connected to Fraud department and the lady did look into the system and concluded that order was placed thourhg me only. Whne i said I never placed an order and want to know who did she said she cannot help. Someone called from my home phone and placed the order. That is not possible because i know the information only. Anyway ATT could not help and suggested me to put a credit moniotring, i was surpised so quickly she gave me the credit agency number. I have all the reasons to believe that information is compromised within ATT and everything was unintentionally done with in ATT.  Now here i am thinking about how to stop this in future and how my personal info is leaked. ATT could not help and i end up spending 2 hours talking to ATT rep to help solve the problem that has not been created by me. Just to mention i am not even a ATT wireless customer.

I am sure issue is with ATT Reps and systems. Your personal information is not safe.

[jamileh]

I'm very sorry to hear that your personal information was compromised. AT&T takes security very seriously and takes great measures to make sure information is protected. Please let me know if you have any continued issues. 

[drew2468]

Close one today, my family member plan's account holder recieved a call from a chinese rep saying he was from att, he told the holder all the discounts we had and that we've been long time members of att. He then asked for the holder's last 4, which rang alarms in my head. Supposedly att and china telecom has made agreements to share our information! I called att to complain but the staff nor management had no freaking clue! I'm gonna need to check to make sure they did not change my plan....

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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drew2468 wrote:

Close one today, my family member plan's account holder recieved a call from a chinese rep saying he was from att, he told the holder all the discounts we had and that we've been long time members of att. He then asked for the holder's last 4, which rang alarms in my head. Supposedly att and china telecom has made agreements to share our information! I called att to complain but the staff nor management had no freaking clue! I'm gonna need to check to make sure they did not change my plan....

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Can you supply any documentation that "supposedly att an china telecom made agreements"? Sound smore like a normal phone scam that is happening more frequently - like "contractors" cold calling people for "great rates" on "quality work"

[drew2468]

Here are the links, one from att's website and another from reuters

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=22083&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=33438

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/30/us-att-chinatelecom-idUSTRE7AT0YM20111130

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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drew2468 wrote:

Here are the links, one from att's website and another from reuters

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=22083&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=33438

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/30/us-att-chinatelecom-idUSTRE7AT0YM20111130

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Still has no supporting documentation on what you claim, carriers have agreements in place with numerous international telcoms for exacty the reasons stated in the press releases

"AT&T said on Wednesday that the agreement would expand its services for business customers in China"

Key words In china...

:AT&T’s Asia operations have been in place for more than 30 years, with extensive experience serving MNC customers in one of the most diverse regions in the world."

Still smacks of a cold call from a 3rd party company

[drew2468]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-30/at-t-china-telecom-sign-agreement-to-expand-relationship.ht...

"As part of today’s accord, AT&T will connect China Telecom to its data networks in the U.S. to provide service to Chinese multinationals. The two companies also said they will consider providing mutual support in other regions of the world"

[JFizDaWiz]

Tin foil hats

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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drew2468 wrote:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-30/at-t-china-telecom-sign-agreement-to-expand-relationship.ht...

"As part of today’s accord, AT&T will connect China Telecom to its data networks in the U.S. to provide service to Chinese multinationals. The two companies also said they will consider providing mutual support in other regions of the world"

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not going to argue, you are reading a lot more into it and equating it to cold calls, the ATT has had an agreenet with the telcoms for 30 years, do some investigation on the "other regions of the world" and you just might find out that the US is not one of them. You do also realize that call centers employee a large vairiance of ehtinic backgrounds. This whole thing myight be mute if you, any of your family, or the company you work for (have have a fan discount throught) do business trips to areas that are served by the specific carriers.

Still could have been a cold phish call though.

[aurareturn]

This just happened to my family plan.  My dad opened an account with an authorized AT&T dealer(not the official AT&T store). 

That authorized dealer had numerous fruad complaints.  You can read about it here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/cellular-gopher-san-francisco

Not reading this thread, I'm not sure if the AT&T authorized dealer upgraded our plan to all iPhones or someone within AT&T.

This is crazy. 

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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aurareturn wrote:

This just happened to my family plan.  My dad opened an account with an authorized AT&T dealer(not the official AT&T store). 

That authorized dealer had numerous fruad complaints.  You can read about it here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/cellular-gopher-san-francisco

Not reading this thread, I'm not sure if the AT&T authorized dealer upgraded our plan to all iPhones or someone within AT&T.

This is crazy. 

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so you are pointing out that the 3rd party vendor is the problem in your case, woudl take it up with them

[CAFinNY]

I just received an email from "AT&T" that says that I owe over $900. It was sent to 5 other email addresses. It does not include my name. Should I be concerned?

[jamileh]

This is a phishing attempt but it does not mean that anyone has your personal information. Many people have reported seeing this spam. I received one yesterday. 

The best thing to do is forward the email to abuse@att.net. 

thanks!!

[Scrapmari]

How can I contact you offline to resolve a similar problem that I am having trouble resolving over the phone with AT&T regarding some business lines that were fraudulently ordered on our behalf?  Thanks in advance.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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Scrapmari wrote:

How can I contact you offline to resolve a similar problem that I am having trouble resolving over the phone with AT&T regarding some business lines that were fraudulently ordered on our behalf?  Thanks in advance.

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Click on her name above the picture, it will open another screen, on the right is th ability to send Jam a private message, you can use that to start the discussion.

[jamileh]

Thanks WR

I see your PM scrapmari - I will respond in just a few minutes.

[ddskimo]

I recently received a text messag from ATT asking me to do a survey after I called customer service; I thought it might have been related to my recent purchase of a new iPhone 5 several weeks before. I completed the survey and didn't think more about it. Two days later my dad told me his cell phone on my plan was only allowing emergency calls. I took the phone to an ATT store and asked them to check into it. Apparently someone named Alena added herself as an authorized user on my account and activated a new iPhone on my account, using my dad's cell #. The people at the ATT Core store contacted corporate and determined the person bought the phone at an Apple store and activated it there on my account. The fraud specialist said the person had to have had my last 4 digits of my SS# and my account info! I wonder ho she had all that info.The situation was remedied and my dad's phone reactivated and Alena's phone deactivated. I was told by ATT to create a PIN # to be used for all changes to my accoun,t and they put an alert on my account. I also contacted the three credit bureaus and alerted them about the ID fraud. Please be aware of the goings on of your account; You might not be as lucky as me to have corrected the situation so quickly, and at no cost to me.

[edited for privacy]

[jamileh]

I'm glad to hear that your situation was resolved quickly and easily. 

[taylormade2121]

Hi tall blonde guy,

This exact same thing is happening to me now and I am going thru alot of trouble to fix this. Can you give me some advice oh how to rectify the situation? They have been doing their "investigation" for 3 days now and dont have anything and keep telling me that my name and address is under the account. Obviously thats the case in identity fraud. I just want to nipp this in the bud before my credit gets affected in this situation.

Thanks!

[98frank]

I had the same thing happen on 5/15. Account changed to Rafael {edit out personal information} in the Bronx.  Met a guy in the Att store and said the same thing happened to him; same unauthorized user.

  Why was this not a red flag? Some guy as the authorized user on 2 accounts on the same day?

  Is there a goverment agency that looks into this? 

It does not seem that ATT cares at all that this is going on.