Subversive Identity Theft
What's In Your Phone Bill?
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Are you one who gets a bill, looks at the balance due and writes a check, or do you read through your itemized statement? If you are one who doesn't read your statements, perhaps you should start.
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Are you one who gets a bill, looks at the balance due and writes a check, or do you read through your itemized statement? If you are one who doesn't read your statements, perhaps you should start.
I am a statement reader. I even recalculate my statements, upon occasion. It is a good thing I do too. I've found errors in my billing statements that were in my favor, and even some that were not.
The latest errors I've located were on my phone bill. They were not the fault of the telephone company either, but I had charges added to my bill by a third party company as the result of Internet fraud. This sneaky little sort of scam is not perpetuated by the billing company, but rather by a malicious individual who has access to your phone number, address and an Internet connection.
I've recently been turning myself inside out over erroneous charges to my phone bill. I have discovered that in all of these instances, I was billed by the same company because someone filled out an online form, using my name and phone number. Perhaps they thought it was funny, perhaps they meant to add to my financial stress... who knows? The thing is, if it can happen to me, I'd wager that it must be happening all over the place, all of the time, to hundreds, if not thousands of unsuspecting people.
To all the would-be pranksters out there: Don't do it! You're messing with more than you know. People lose money this way, and it's just not nice. It is a more subversive form of identity theft.
To bill payors everywhere: Read your monthly statements, carefully. Check for charges that you don't remember. Especially check your phone bill. That is where I have been hit hardest. Don't be afraid to dispute charges that you don't recognize.
Another deception that can cause problems are erroneous magazine subscriptions. I've received magazines that I would never order; coming to my name. Men's magazines have even made it into my mailbox, with my name on them. It took six months, many complaints to the magazine publisher and the post office to make it stop.
This may sound funny, but think of the repercussions: what if my 11 year old were to get the mail one day, and discover a porn magazine in our mailbox? It's bad enough to have to explain Viagra commercials on T.V.. What if I were an insanely jealous wife, and thought my husband had subscribed to this crap? These types of pranks can cause serious problems in others' lives.
What I want to know is what, if anything, can be done to stop these jokesters and punish them? I intend to find out how to trace this activity.
Stay tuned...
Copyright © 2009
The Trii-Zine Ezine
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2
The latest errors I've located were on my phone bill. They were not the fault of the telephone company either, but I had charges added to my bill by a third party company as the result of Internet fraud. This sneaky little sort of scam is not perpetuated by the billing company, but rather by a malicious individual who has access to your phone number, address and an Internet connection.
I've recently been turning myself inside out over erroneous charges to my phone bill. I have discovered that in all of these instances, I was billed by the same company because someone filled out an online form, using my name and phone number. Perhaps they thought it was funny, perhaps they meant to add to my financial stress... who knows? The thing is, if it can happen to me, I'd wager that it must be happening all over the place, all of the time, to hundreds, if not thousands of unsuspecting people.
To all the would-be pranksters out there: Don't do it! You're messing with more than you know. People lose money this way, and it's just not nice. It is a more subversive form of identity theft.
To bill payors everywhere: Read your monthly statements, carefully. Check for charges that you don't remember. Especially check your phone bill. That is where I have been hit hardest. Don't be afraid to dispute charges that you don't recognize.
Another deception that can cause problems are erroneous magazine subscriptions. I've received magazines that I would never order; coming to my name. Men's magazines have even made it into my mailbox, with my name on them. It took six months, many complaints to the magazine publisher and the post office to make it stop.
This may sound funny, but think of the repercussions: what if my 11 year old were to get the mail one day, and discover a porn magazine in our mailbox? It's bad enough to have to explain Viagra commercials on T.V.. What if I were an insanely jealous wife, and thought my husband had subscribed to this crap? These types of pranks can cause serious problems in others' lives.
What I want to know is what, if anything, can be done to stop these jokesters and punish them? I intend to find out how to trace this activity.
Stay tuned...
Copyright © 2009
The Trii-Zine Ezine
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2
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