Sprint PCS - phone got cloned - cloning fraud inepitude by Sprint PCS

# 16 for September 27, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on September 26, 2003:

From:

RE: Sprint PCS - phone got cloned - cloning fraud inepitude by Sprint PCS From: To: Sprint PCS Corporate HQ / 7900 College Blvd / Overland Park, KS 66210

/ 816-854-0903 or 800-829-0965 or 913-253-4302

Not that usual "PO BOX 8077 (or 8174) / London KY, 40742" address which is merely a tax break address for Sprint PCS

Mr. Charles Levine - CEO

Mr. Tony Castanon - Senior VP Customer Management

Mr. Chip Novick - VP Consumer Marketing

Mrs. Dena Swackhammer - VP Customer Solutions Strategy Mon 07/21/2003 01:14 - I purchased a Samsung SPH-I300 from eBay member haluktezcan(2) at eBay #3035637983

(http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3035637983);

viewable until 10/20/2003 22:14:37 PDT) who declared the phone as having been replaced by Sprint PCS itself and therefore had a warranty starting in late June 2003. Thurs 07/31/2003 13:11 - Received UPS #1Z7293YA0395749023

(http://wwwapps.ups.com/etracking/tracking.cgi?TypeOfInquiryNumber=

T&InquiryNumber1=1Z7293YA0395749023).

Item looks fine. Thurs 07/31/2003 21:30 - Used Sprint PCS Customer Service (888-211-4727) to activate my phone without incident. Deactivates my old phone which I sold on Amazon. early August - Odd events lately:

1. NYC-area (917-617-2821, 646-[forgot the rest which I can't retrieve due; see Fri 08/22/2003 19:00]) Spanish guy(s) who called my number 4-6x/day for the last 6 days as if responding to a (previous) call from my

number; I don't even speak Spanish, I don't know these people and I don't give my cell number indiscriminately; my returning their calls results in incoherent English;

2. my getting lots of voicemail lately which aren't mine and totally empty or stupid mumbling, usually in thinly veiled Spanish;

3. my phone's not ringing when people call me, regardless of source (calling card, land line, non-Sprint cell, Sprint cell, etc.); 4. and my phone's inability to show missed calls when I KNOW there was a missed call due to the voicemail left (which might be a cell phone unit, not a system/service, problem) Tues 08/19/2003 13:20 - At my Account/Invoice detail for the current billing cycle at www.sprintpcs.com, I noticed:

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Estimated Usage

Start Date: August 09, 2003 End Date: September 08, 2003 Current as of: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 at 11:46 CDT Shared Usage

Minute Usage Included Used Remaining Additional Used MINUTES IN PLAN 500 446 54 0

OFF-PEAK OPTION 4500 1136 3364 0

PCS TO PCS CALLING MINUTES 2500 413 2087 0

ROAMING MINUTES IN PLAN 0 0 0 0

PCS TO PCS CALLING MINUTES 2500 413 2087 0

ROAMING MINUTES IN PLAN 0 0 0 0 Usage for 412.512.7281**

Minute Usage Included Used Remaining Additional Used

MINUTES IN PLAN (Shared) 248 (Shared) (Shared)

OFF-PEAK OPTION (Shared) 515 (Shared) (Shared)

SPRINT PCS TO PCS CALLING MINUTES (Shared) 243 (Shared) (Shared) ROAMING MINUTES IN PLAN (Shared) 0 (Shared) (Shared)

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so I called Sprint PCS Customer Service (888-211-4727) which had the lame excuse that my usage info temporary combined me and my current cell's former user (who, as you recall, replaced his old phone, now mine, with another) which will correct itself by the next bill, so we're not actually nearing our monthly quota because I'm not actually using 248mins(daytime) but actually 13mins(daytime) thusfar.

They added 120minutes for this month (only) to assure this billing cycle's eventual correctness. I didn't feel this answer was sufficient nor accurate because explains the high usage yet doesnt' explain the odd calls and lack of calls received/bounced/God-knows-what. Those 2 Spanish illiterates keep calling me ~20+ times in the last 12 days Fri 08/23/2003 18:40 - Sprint PCS Fraud Tech Support (877-559-6422) left a outbound-capture message starting around 5p yesterday with the message, "Your phone that my phone has been cloned and therefore shutdown my service since the criminal used my family plan's service plan to its monthly quota.. My suspicions about the crime and Sprint PCS's incompitence are confirmed. I will never understand how incompetent Sprint PCS has to be to not detect fraud.

I do not know whether the crime was finally captured due to the Spanish guys' reporting my callback or by Sprint PCS Fraud Tech Support's monitoring or whatever. How nice of Sprint PCS Fraud (888-788-0788) and Sprint PCS Fraud Tech Support (877-559-6422) to notify me at the end of the workday after I already called Sprint PCS Customer Service (888-211-4727) 5 times asking why I continually received illiterate Spanish calls instead of my own which weren't being *received* (not sent). I had call my parents on a pay phone (the nearest 10 in the city, none of which worked, mind you) then take the commuter bus 2 hours later to walk to the Sprint PCS and Service store (105 W 42nd St / NY, NY 10036 / 212-944-5686) where I retold same story to the Customer Service desk there only to get the same lame excuse as that of the phone representative(s) (see below). At least they were kind enough to give me a courtesy call home to inform my parents of my delay. Fri 08/22/2003 19:00 - I smash my phone which is questionably at fault since my problems started after I acquired it. Whether or not it's at fault, Sprint is unable to detect what I suspected all along: my service

plan (no, not my cell phone itself, as Sprint PCS Customer Service's excuse usually goes) was cloned, hijacked and illegally being used. Sat 08/23/2003 09:00 - After reiterating my story (which they could've read off my account notes which were poorly written, at best), the spineless, hapless ladies at Sprint Customer Service (888-211-4727) say my

only options are:

1. Pay $20 for a Malicious Call Trace/Log, get victimized a little more by receiving more calls, even on my daytime/anytime minutes, but, this time, log the calls so I can report them to the police who'll report it to the

FBI () for cross state border phone harassment

2. Change my number - requires Sprint PCS Fraud management (888-788-0788) open only M-F so no luck until Monday

3. Cancel service - requires Sprint PCS Fraud management (888-788-0788) open only M-F so no luck until Monday

4. I can't even get call log of my own service plan (like that of a bill) to present as documentation with my police report. That request must be vastly too challenging for the "representatives." I can't display its call

records (see Fri 08/22/2003 19:00) for the police and I neither saved nor can access my Sprint PCS VoiceMail so I choose #3. Mon 08/25/2003 10:49 - Cancelled my Sprint PCS service. Oh, and reported the fraud to which the rude respresentatives said I had no choice but to accept the risk of being cloned if I used their service. That's not an option, in my book, but a threat. I reduce threats. Mon 08/25/2003 13:04 - Here's how I play hardball, this time by emailing the haluktezcan(3) guy who sold me the device at eBay #3035637983:

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Bad news: This handset unit has been cited by Sprint PCS Fraud as a fraudulent device which has been cloned (I have details, but I'll elaborate later). Before they and I escalate the issue to the US Secret

Service as a financial crime, provide me with complete detail of this phone's history, namely its owners and sources and merchants, so I have a more complete report. I have a fax number if that eases document transfer.

---- CC: http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/

http://www.complaints.com/

Comment On This

This has just happened to me and I am only at the BEGINNING stages of Dealing with Sprint.

12/9/07 4:30 and 8:30 pm two separate representatives say there is nothing they can do until I receive my bill in two and a half week.

Service has been turned off because someone has made 900+ minutes of calls to Cuba while the phone in question was turned off and out of the country.

I can ONLY hope that my experience goes better than yours. Wish me luck! :-(