Possible Verizon agent scam?

[NancyR45]

I went online to purchase something today from Verizon online.  An agent, "Jessica" came onto the chat window to do what agents do (encourage you along in your shopping).  Oddly, though, "Jessica" did not seem to have any access to my account and when the time came for me to pay for the device I was ordering, instead of the charge going to my account (as it would if I just clicked on things to purchase myself without an agent's help) her chat window led me to a credit card payment site that struck me as potentially fraudulent. The site URL she wanted me to go to is:

https://inspicio.verizonwireless.com/mobile/indexChat.html?p=CHAT-f49bb09d-921c-43;ZJGecXaGmVOSbLwGd...

This seemed suspicious to me with the word "inspicio" before Verizon.   I did NOT enter credit card info though the agent got  my name and phone number. 

I made my purchase myself, the normal way, and told "Jessica" that I thought she was a scammer.  I copied the entire chat, and the URL, and immediately called Verizon.  They were supposed to connect me to the Fraud department and send me a link to use to report this event but so far no link.

Anybody else have this happen? Is one of their agents a fraudster, is the site hacked, or am I just paranoid. Is "inspicio" a legit payment site for Verizon? I could not find ANY indication that it is legit.

[chai1]

I thought it was odd because you usually have to wait to get an agent, but my laptop messed up so I had to restart with another agent named Alex( I started off with Jessica). The chat window was different and the way he was speaking to me was odd. He asked for my name then my phone number then my pin. I gave it.

[removed]

This is the payment link that I was told to click on and pay: 

https://inspicio.verizonwireless.com/mobile/indexChat.html?p=CHAT-1c29729a-7ef4-46;pCCJz-AUUF3PUW_YC...

Order Confirmation

Your order No is [removed], and your location code is E******

Content removed per Verizon Wireless Terms of Service

[chai1]

I couldn't fit everything in my first post. I wanted to give my full statement. 

Same thing happened I got an agent immediately called Jessica. I thought it was odd because you usually have to wait to get an agent, but my laptop messed up so I had to restart with another agent named Alex. Again, alarm bells went off, because I didn't have to wait for this agent either. 

The chat window was different and the way he was speaking to me was odd. He asked for my name then my phone number then my pin. I gave it. Then he immediately started switching me over to the prepaid plan without me stating that I was sure that that was what I wanted to do. He gave me a form to fill out. It had such a weird format and Verizon has never asked for payment on that weird looking site and it has Inspicio on it.

I naively still gave my information and asked about an email confirmation. Usually when things change on your account or you pay you get emails sent. On the Inspicio payment page itself it gave an unassociated , with Verizon, confirmation code and Location code. More alarm bells went off.

His log off was different too. I didn't exit out of anything because everything was too weird. Instead I looked up Inspicio and found other people talking about scams. I contacted my bank and the real Verizon chat and changed my PIN.

The chat has disappered and so has the order confirmation information, but I took pictures and copied and pasted the chat and everything for my records.

[vzw_customer_support]

chai1, we appreciate these details and want to help ensure that your account is safe as we can see how this would be concerning. Jessica is a digital assistant that automatically pops up on our website without the need to be logged into your My Verizon account. An actual chat via our website with a live representative can only take place once you log into your online My Verizon account. We do use an Inspicio link to verify the Account PIN when needed. 

At this time, were you able to determine that the online chat you had was indeed with Verizon Wireless? Were these changes ever processed on your account?

AlanS_VZW

[HDGoose]

I work in IT and we are trained to recongize for phishing sites. When "Jessica" sent me the URLstarting with "https://inspicio.verizon.com...", I only went there because I was logged onto the Verizon wireless website. But when the URL was displayed, The Verizon logo wasn't quite the same, and nowhere did the "https://inspicio.verizon.com..." landing site reference the Verizon Wireless website URL. I stopped there. There were 3 red flags at that point. 

You probably want to fix that. I am assuming it is a third party vender perhaps working for Verizon, which is common IT practice. But it was not professionally done. 

The red flags for me were:

Different looking "Verizon" logo

No reference to the Verizonwireless.com website

Orginated from a chat session and URL was in the chat session. 

[vzw_customer_support]

HDGoose,

We value your feedback, and can relate to your concern with phishing scams. Your account and personal security are a priority.  Among others, we do have a sales chat representative named Jessica that does assist with purchases while you are browsing our site. I'm sorry for any concerns this may have caused. What other issues have you encountered aside from the ones mentioned above? KatiM_VZW

[emdgwd]

I kept refusing chat help saying no thanks.  When it came to reading the terms and agreements, my final Pay button was grayed out.  The Chat person (Clare I think - there were a few others I said no thanks to) said it was a system glitch.  I continued chatting but became really suspicious when the Chat person was asking me for information I had already entered such as the phone model and the screen protector I wanted.  I decided to end the Chat and log out when I was told to click on a link to pay and the entire screen was blank.  When I asked why I had to reenter because all this was entered into my Verizon account, I was again told it was a glitch and that I could be reassured it was a secure link.  I said no thanks, closed the chat, and logged out.  About one hour later, I logged in again, went to my cart where everything was still there and completed my order.  I proceeded to change my PIN.  This was actually my 2nd occurrance.  The first time, the "Jessica" chat person finally gave up on me and ended our chat because I kept getting interrupted by my granddaugher and could not decide what model I wanted.  This has been a crazy experience.

[deloused]

Tell your granddaughter to leave you alone when you’re working on important things!

[vzw_customer_support]

We're so sorry to here you experienced this and appreciate you making us aware that this happened, emdgwd. It was a great idea to close out of the chat and not provide any personal information if you were unsure of who you were speaking with. We will definitely provide feedback for this to ensure this is looked into. Please let us know if you experience any further issues. 

DanielleR_VZW

[MRSSTORYTIMERPL]

The same thing just happend to us although we were suspicious from the beginning.  Her lack of professionalism, typo's and lack of informative responses.  I too was taken to the Inspicio link to pay off my daughter's phone.  I knew immediately, after 25 years of dealing with Verizon that it was very suspicious.  I did not enter any credit card information either.