Cell phone got hacked into.

[Doc96720]

A few months ago I went to a Verizon mall store and purchased a couple of new cell phones because the Apple that I had - its port corroded here in our humid climate and could not use it. A few weeks later I received a bill from Verizon - I owed $2200 - apparently some one hacked into the phone - in fact it always seem hot when I picked it up - so I disputed it right away after my heart attack - and no one would give me a straight answer except to say yes it is a viable bill. Then a few weeks later received another bill for $6400. I downloaded the itemized info myself and saw all these downloads - night and day. I contacted Verizon again, talked to manager, still no followup, called their Tech, Johnny, still no follow up - all essentially ignoring me and not providing any answer, etc. - now my service is cancelled. I told them that I am a doctor and I need to be in contact with my patients until this matter gets resolved. I'm at my wits end. I went and got another phone from another carrier and talked to their tech and he said my phone somehow got "cloned" and took all my information, etc so the hacker could use it. There wasn't any safe guards on my cell phones nor was I informed by Verizon of the potential problems with hacking. I have heard other horror stories about Verizon about this similar situation. Right now I think I have to go get an attorney and get this resolved as I am totally ignored by Verizon at every level - from my perspective this is their fault as they should at least warn the customers about this problem or provide information to get the apps needed to protect ourselves.

Doc

[vzwinagent]

As an agent for Verizon for over 8 years I've never heard of this or seen this. Apparently it's not very widespread.

[bmtvaquero]

What were they doing that cost $8600, talking to Mars?

[BetterOfDead]

They must have bought everything on the app store.
Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

[veriztd]

Doc,

Was the phone ever out of your possession ? Cloning of phones is almost non-existent in this day and age. What type of downloads were billed to your account ??

[bmtvaquero]

When I buy something from the App Store, it charges my credit card, not my Verizon bill.

[GadgetKen]

Sorry to hear of the cloning problem and the VZ customer service issue.
Cloning used to be a problem with analog cellular systems that are no longer used by major cellular carriers in the U.S. With digital, this is considerably more difficult to do, but regrettably is not impossible.
If the phone is out of your possession it is sometimes possible to change serial numbers and account information on another phone to match but it requires special software (which I won't name) and technical know-how. Normally people use specialty software like that for perfectly legitimate reasons like unlocking a phone for international roaming purposes, or flashing it to more modern firmware or the firmware of another carrier...unfortunately some people will instead use it for illegal purposes.
Only other ways I can think of that it was hacked was by the internet connection or short range wireless (wifi or bluetooth).
Hope Doc has better results with his new carrier and phones.

[TWC42]

Doc's first post, very suspicious details, very unlikely scenario, no advice asked. Verizon bashing?

[akhi216]

Doc's first post, very suspicious details, very unlikely scenario, no advice asked. Verizon bashing?

Most likely.

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[GadgetKen]

Doc's first post, very suspicious details, very unlikely scenario, no advice asked. Verizon bashing?

Yes, the same thought did cross my mind when I responded to Doc. The cloning scenario is not totally outside the realm of possibility, just extremely unlikely and difficult to do(and best not to discuss how that could be done). See this thread on the community section of the Verizon website: https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/563468

Though given the tone of the original post, would suggest this thread be more appropriately moved to the US Carrier Discussion "Provider Rants and Kudos" section. Mod?

[Vatothe0]

Actually this type of fraud/error is pretty easy other than timing. The 3g data network validates based on phone number. If the previous owner of the number used their phone to download all these things before the new user of the number makes a data connection, it would be allowed by the network.

[vzwinagent]

But this person received multiple bills so it was apparently ongoing. Thinking about it though I can't see how a bill that high could happen. Verizon has so many checks and systems in place to call or text an account holder when overages, especially that high start happening.

[Extraordinary]

First post. Lets see some bill screenshots. What was on the bill? Data overage or something? Android and Apple app purchases go to credit cards not carrier accounts?

[veriztd]

This thread reminds me of a story when I was a CS rep for At&t. A woman called up to question a few hundred $$ in charges to an international # in Grenada. She stated she didn't know anybody there. It took a little research but it was determined that her phone was being used to make calls to a 1-800 sex line. When the toll free # was dialed, a verbal warning that the call was going to be transferred, which it was, resulting in an international LD charge. When the case was followed up with the customer, her son admitted to the 1-800 calls and the mystery was solved.

I wonder if something similar is happening with the OP, as others have pointed out application fees typically appear on a credit card and not billed to the account. Something sounds suspicious in the OP's case considering the likelihood of his phone being cloned are slim to none.

[Butthead007]

I'm calling BS. There are absolutely no details provided as to what these charges are for and he started off with an iphone (non-descript apple phone), if he got another one, there is no carrier billing.

Additionally, Verizon has a very good fraud team who would have shut his access down prior to a bill like that being run up.

There is something being left out here and until more details are provided, I think this is purely bs.