Lawsuit Says Group Fraudulently Sought Customer Account Information Without
Proper Authorization
TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless has filed suit and
obtained an immediate injunction against a Florida-based private investigative
agency and its affiliates to stop their attempts to fraudulently obtain
confidential information about Verizon Wireless customers.
The civil suit, filed November 2 in Hillsborough County, FL, charges that
Global Information Group (GIG) of Temple Terrace, FL, made "thousands of
attempts" to gather confidential information without proper authorization and
used various fraudulent "schemes" to do so, including impersonating Verizon
Wireless employees and posing as Verizon Wireless customers.
On November 2, the court issued an immediate temporary restraining order,
prohibiting the defendants from any further attempts to obtain confidential
information from Verizon Wireless, any further contact with Verizon Wireless
customer service centers, or providing any confidential customer information
to third parties. Verizon Wireless also obtained an order from the court
entitling it to seize any information the defendants may have gathered.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies executed the order Monday afternoon.
"Verizon Wireless will use all the weapons in our legal arsenal to protect
our customers' private and confidential information," said Steven Zipperstein,
General Counsel and Vice President of Legal and External Affairs for Verizon
Wireless. "We simply will not tolerate fraudulent schemes that prey on our
company and our customers. We are very grateful to the Hillsborough County
Sheriff's Office for their invaluable assistance in enforcing the court's
seizure order."
Verizon Wireless' aggressive and innovative record of protecting customer
privacy is unmatched in the U.S. wireless industry. This summer, Verizon
Wireless secured a court order to halt a Tennessee-based company's illegal
practice of using fraudulent means to obtain and sell confidential customer
telephone records. The company also obtained injunctions against
telemarketing firms based in Florida and California this summer, halting them
from making illegal sales calls to its customers.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless
network, serving 49.3 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in
Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications
(NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web
at http://www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality
video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log
on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.
SOURCE Verizon Wireless
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Related links:
http://www.verizonwireless.com
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia
CONTACT:
Thomas Pica, +1-908-306-4385,
Thomas.Pica@verizonwireless.com, or Chuck Hamby, +1-813-615-4803,
Chuck.Hamby@verizonwireless.com, both of Verizon Wireless
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