Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
cjtoth
Enthusiast - Level 2

I received a text message telling me I had won a $1,000 Best Buy gift card, with instructions on how to claim it.  I suspected it was fraud and called Best Buy.  They confirmed it was a fraudulent text and told me they had received thousands of calls about the message.  I called Verizon Customer Service to inform them about the message and they claimed to be unaware that this message was being circulated to customers.  I was told that this sender could not be blocked from sending messages to Verizon customers, despite knowing the phone number it was coming from, and knowing that the messages are fraudulent scams.  On top of it, I'm paying Verizon for the privilege receivng these scam messages, since I don't have a text plan. I'm very disappointed with Verizon's response and the fact that they aren't taking a more proactive approach to protecting their customers.  I think Verizon's Customer Service and Fraud Departments should want to know about these scams and should at least act like they care about preventing their customers from getting these bogus messages.  They should have an easy way to forward messages like these to their Fraud Department. I also hate the fact that I have to pay Verizon $.20 for each fraudulent text I receive.  Never was offered a credit.  It's a good way to "encourage" customers to pay for a text plan, even if they don't text much.  I'm a long-time customer who has spent a lot of my hard-earned money with Verizon over the years.  I feel like I'm getting nickel-and-dimed to death on top of the overly-complicated plans and inconsistent information I receive from customer service.  Do they really care about the customer, or just about the revenue?   

Labels (1)
Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
commonsense101
Specialist - Level 2

spoken like a true american.

no way i should be responsible for my service , someone else should be.

If you want a credit contact the company that got your phone number.

The money you pay to verizon is for service. yah.

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Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

You can forward the text to 7726 (SPAM) to report it.

Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
tremontij
Enthusiast - Level 2

Well, I can share my experience I guess. Because I get those kind of text messages too. But I kind of understand why I get them, because I post ads on craigslist with my telephone number on it. Which is like a huge target for spam texts and emails!

I would just say be careful on where you post your number online and who you give it out to.

I think it has absolutely nothing to do with Verizon and their fraud department. I think you should stop blaming Verizon and take responsibility because more than likely you either put your number somewhere where people can see it... or subscribed to something. I dont know how many times I have read and heard, "I didn't do anything like that!!! I demand a credit!!!". But in reality you did.

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Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
cjtoth
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks Suzy.  I don't know why the Verizon Customer Service Rep couldn't give me that info.

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Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
cjtoth
Enthusiast - Level 2

Right.  I was able to supply Verizon the phone number the message came from, along with the message.  It could have easily been blocked.  I suppose if you owned a business, it would be OK with you to let a criminal to walk around and try to rip-off your customers. 

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Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
Wildman
Legend

More and more of these type of messages have become a regular because of all the electronic footprints users are leaving all over the web like Facebook, Twitter, file sharing and not to forget the free applications that are usually infested with advertisements..

Security should start at home first because no level of security will stop personal information from being available when users simply give it out to oters on a regular.

I have had a number of clients that would go to a infected site that requested for the user to disable their system Virus Scan or Firewall to access data from the site and the customer would do it and then their system gets infected, is this some how my job to resolve this issue for free?

I really do not see how this is Verizon’s problem to resolve.

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Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
TorranceMan
Enthusiast - Level 2

Today I got a text message from an unverified-sender saying it was a Verizon Wireless Notice that my account has been locked and I need to goto a bogus site.  I wanted to forward it to Verizon but there does not seem to be any number for that.  Guess they just do not care.

Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
SydneyK
Master - Level 3

This works! I reported one from Wal-Mart and one from Best Buy, and never heard from either number again.

Re: Fraudulent Text Messages and Verizon's Response
SuzyQ
Community Leader
Community Leader

TorranceMan wrote:

Today I got a text message from an unverified-sender saying it was a Verizon Wireless Notice that my account has been locked and I need to goto a bogus site.  I wanted to forward it to Verizon but there does not seem to be any number for that. Forward the text to 7726

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