You need to learn from the mistakes made by a 15-year Verizon subscriber
Scammers take over a Verizon customer's phone using a typical scam tactic.
Verizon customer narrowly escapes a scam. | Image by PhoneArena
A Verizon customer, with the carrier for 15 years, fell for a phone-scam the other day, and you should take some mental notes to make sure that this does not happen to you. The victim of the scam posted about her experience under her "SailorWife11" username, and it is a harrowing tale that none of us would want to go through.
A Verizon subscriber was called to alert her about iPhone 17 purchases on her account that never happened
The scammers called the Verizon subscriber at 9:30 pm local time, and her first reaction was to yell at the "agent" on the other end of the call for ringing her up during unapproved hours. In the U.S., federal law prohibits telemarketers from making cold calls before 8 am and after 9 pm.
But this was not a sales call as the victim, who lives in the South, was supposedly being called by Verizon because someone was trying to purchase two iPhone 17 units in California. "They called back to back so me not thinking correct[ly] thought it was Verizon. They could see my payment arrangement AND my account PIN," she wrote.
The big mistake the victim made
The big mistake she made was to follow the caller's directions on how to cancel the attempted iPhone 17 purchases that she didn't make (and of course, didn't really take place). She clicked on a link they sent her and thought she had fixed the problem. And then her phone shut off.
What part of this scam are you likely to fall for?
The scammers had ported her number over to Total Wireless, and she received emails from her bank stating that the password had been changed. Luckily, her children have phones that use Walmart Family Mobile, so she was able to call Verizon and her bank.
Scammers execute the same fraudulent scheme multiple times each day
Even though the victim wrote that Verizon tech support couldn't help her, the carrier did get her phone number back to her in two hours. Her bank suggested that she cancel all her credit cards because the scammers did attempt to take money out of those accounts. They also tried to buy an iPhone, but the transaction was stopped.
Example of a fake Verizon text message. | Image by NBC Philadelphia
This person was lucky since she came out whole and got her number back. Thieves tried the same scam on another Redditor the same night, but asked for the number to Verizon's fraud department to validate the caller's claim that someone was using her account to buy two iPhone 17s. The number they gave was fake, and the scammers were shot down.
These are the lessons you need to take away from this article
That takes us to the lessons you need to learn from this. If you get a call from your carrier about phones allegedly being purchased on your account, hang up and call a verified number for your carrier and ask if such a purchase was attempted.
Never click a link on an email or text sent from someone you do not know personally. Always assume that you are being set up as the victim of a scam. Never give out personal information including Social Security numbers, birthdates, banking info and credit card numbers to mention a few.
It is hard to keep your emotions in check because the initial attempt to contact you will usually try to get you to take action. The scammers might tell you that your wireless account has been shut down, or, as in the above situation, someone was trying to buy a new phone using your account.
Their goal is for you to become so concerned about something that is not true that you throw all caution to the wind and follow their instructions, which often lead to having your phone number and account stolen from you. These scammers might try this scheme hundreds of times each day, and they only need to succeed less than a handful of times each day to make a big score.
Don't be a victim. Learn from this article and act as though such calls and notifications are scams from the start.
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