Verizon’s poor identify verification processes facilitates fraud and identity theft crimes. I was made aware of a fraudulent Verizon account in my name through a debt collection agency that Verizon uses. Shockingly the debt collection agency has been nothing but helpful when I speak with them. Verizon’s practice is to move debt to collections and report to the credit bureau at the same time. This is not a standard practice as most debt collectors have other means to find customers than the originator. I responded to the first debt collection notice but Verizon had already reported the debt to the credit bureaus causing my near perfect credit score to be downgraded to fair for $154.75. Verizon expects victims of identity theft to put a lot personal information in an online claim form, but clearly doesn’t ask many questions or to prove identity when opening an account. When I said I didn’t want to provide that information online. I was told by several incompetent associates in the “fraud prevention” department there was nothing else that could be done. I complied filled out the form files a police report and received an email that I needed to provide more information. After hours on the phone with fraud prevention associates who don’t know what they are doing learned that more information means fill out a whole new claim with all my personal information again. I also haven’t been able to get anyone to verify what identification is required to open an account. Please resolve this issue immediately by writing off the debt, rescinding your report on my perfect credit, and get an actual fraud prevention department that works on risk mitigation instead of making the lives of victims of your company’s poor business practices more difficult.
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