- Report: #28942
Complaint Review: Southwestern Bell - Nationwide
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Author Not Confirmed
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Southwestern Bell
www.southerwesternbell.com Nationwide, U.S.A.
Phone:
888-5448847
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Southwestern Bell falsely charged me under a different name but my SSN for a phone line in a state I do not live in Missouri
In 1996, someone by the name of Martin Fizer acquired a telephone number in Missouri under my SSN. He failed to pay the bill and it showed up on my credit report in 2000.
I phoned SW Bell to ask why I have a collection in my name and my SSN (I am a female, for one thing and lived in Montana since 1989).
I told them who I was and that it was real easy to look up a SSN and see whos name is associated with it. Obviously it is not Martin Fizer. I asked how a company can ask for a SSN without verification. Why is this allowed? Can anyone use an SSN without any verification at all?
They said they DID verify SSN's! I said, obviously not. They then would not talk to me and sent me to their collection department in Texas.
The collection department asked me to file a police report on fraud, and send them materials (drivers license, Social Security card copies), and bank statements showing who I was. I did this and nothing happened.
Then they sold the account to a company in California - American Agencies in Torrance - who again reported this and it is showing up on my credit report. They again want me to produce documents showing where I lived in 1996, but only want electric or cable bills.
Well, I have since divorced and moved and I have no idea if I could get these and at the time, everything was in my husbands name. I have no idea how to clear this up but they can see, if they look up the SSN or even my credit report that EVERYTHING else I did was in Montana at the time - from 1989 to 2000.
Mari
Louisville, Colorado
I phoned SW Bell to ask why I have a collection in my name and my SSN (I am a female, for one thing and lived in Montana since 1989).
I told them who I was and that it was real easy to look up a SSN and see whos name is associated with it. Obviously it is not Martin Fizer. I asked how a company can ask for a SSN without verification. Why is this allowed? Can anyone use an SSN without any verification at all?
They said they DID verify SSN's! I said, obviously not. They then would not talk to me and sent me to their collection department in Texas.
The collection department asked me to file a police report on fraud, and send them materials (drivers license, Social Security card copies), and bank statements showing who I was. I did this and nothing happened.
Then they sold the account to a company in California - American Agencies in Torrance - who again reported this and it is showing up on my credit report. They again want me to produce documents showing where I lived in 1996, but only want electric or cable bills.
Well, I have since divorced and moved and I have no idea if I could get these and at the time, everything was in my husbands name. I have no idea how to clear this up but they can see, if they look up the SSN or even my credit report that EVERYTHING else I did was in Montana at the time - from 1989 to 2000.
Mari
Louisville, Colorado
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Carol
Houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
Same Thing Happened to Me
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, October 31, 2004
I was an i.d. theft victim, too. SWB set up a fraudulent phone account in my name with my SSN because someone simply called SWB, said they were me, and with no further verification, SWB set up service. I didn't even know this was going on until they billed me at my real number/address when the fraudulent account went unpaid. (I have all the documentation of the ordeal.) SWB turned me over to a credit service and cut off my phone service. I couldn't get new phone service with anyone else because SWB wouldn't release the line, and eventually I had to move. SWB never talked to me about it again. In fact, it was the credit service that informed me in July 2004 that forgery had been proven and the case was closed. So the point is, I now have caller verification with anyone I have any type of account with. And it certainly was inept of SWB to set up an account just because a person merely calls and says they're who they are without further verification. What a stupid way to do business in this day and age. Needless to say, I will never use SWB again for anything and I let everyone know! Thank you Rip Off Report for the opportunity to spread the word! And sorry for anyone else who has had problems with this most inept company.
