Vonage New Account and Identity Theft

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 04, 2006 Posts: 7

I recently signed up for a Vonage account and instead of signing up online because I had a couple of questions I wanted adressed before signing up, I opted to call in and talk to a live person.
Vonage routes calls for new accounts to a sales center in the Philippines. After the sales representative had answered all my questions, I decided to sign up. She of course asked for all my information including my name, address and credit card information. (A Vonage recording reminds you to have a your credit card information handy when you call in to sign up for a new account)

Just yesterday I received a call from Paypal to confirm if I had created a new account and charged over $3000.00 on my credit card. I told them that the account was a fraud and had them freeze the account immediately. I then called my bank to change my credit card number and dispute the amounts debited to Paypal.

I am absolutely sure that the my credit card information was stolen and compromised through Vonage because I haven't used that credit card for anything else.

If you need to give any credit card information to Vonage or any other company for that matter, do so securely online rather than giving the information to an operator. Also, If you have singed up for a Vonage account the same way I have, please check that your credit card information has not been compromised.

Posts: 168 · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:24 am Post subject:

You could be correct. But maybe not. Did you give out your information on a wireless phone or a land line phone? If you did it via land line phone then I would bank on your assumption that something is rotten in the Phillipines. But if you did it over a cordless phone, something else COULD have happened.

Also I didn't know that PayPal had anything to do with Vonage. Did you do this transaction with PayPal? How in the world could they have gotten your Pay Pal password?

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 04, 2006 Posts: 7

I gave out my information over a land line phone.

Paypal has nothing to do with Vonage. As I mentioned above, someone set up a brand new account with Paypal using my name, address, telephone number and credit card information. They gave a different email address however when they assumed my identity and therefore created a new password.

Paypal called me and wanted to confirm if I was really the one who created the new account.

I have since called Vonage twice and had spoken to a supervisor to tell them what happend to me but I don't know how far they are going to investigate this matter. I hope that this doesn't happen to anyone else. I am keeping my Vonage account but will input my credit card information via the Vonage website.

Posts: 168 · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:25 am Post subject:

Contact the credit bureaus. Let them know someone may be attempting to steal your identity.

Glad PayPal called you. Man, that really ****.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 04, 2006 Posts: 7

Thanks for your concern. I have an Equifax subscription that monitors my credit cards and alerts me of unusual activity like charges beyond a limit that I've set. They would have also caught the bogus activity and would have alerted me if the transactions had been approved and gotten through. I'm glad Paypal caught this before the thieves did more damage.

I made a mistake earlier. The identity thieves didn't use my address which is why Paypal had the status of the account as "unverified". This was one of the red flags which had alerted Paypal. That and the amounts of the transactions with a new account were really what prompted them to call to confirm. Because I already have a verified Paypal account, opening a new one with a different address was another red flag.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 04, 2006 Posts: 7

Thanks Steve48. I'll definitely do that. Not to be paranoid but I think you should have just PMed me the information above because what's to stop anyone who reads this from telling her that the same thing happend to them based on the information here. My identity would have been stolen again albeit to a lesser degree.

I also wanted to add that I've changed my Vonage online account login password which had been set up with the operator when I first signed up. Im glad that I don't use the same password for any of my online accounts and change them regularly. I'm sure the identity thieves would have tried inputting my email address on other sites such as Paypal and tested to see If I used the same password.

What's interesting to note here is that Paypal also uses call centers in the Philippines. They just don't handle the same data such as credit card and login / password customer information.

I really hope this is an isolated incident. Some other people who use their credit card for more transactions may not have a clue as to when or at what point their information was stolen.

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 09, 2005 Posts: 8

Rem wrote:

I recently signed up for a Vonage account and instead of signing up online because I had a couple of questions I wanted adressed before signing up, I opted to call in and talk to a live person.
Vonage routes calls for new accounts to a sales center in the Philippines. After the sales representative had answered all my questions, I decided to sign up. She of course asked for all my information including my name, address and credit card information. (A Vonage recording reminds you to have a your credit card information handy when you call in to sign up for a new account)

Just yesterday I received a call from Paypal to confirm if I had created a new account and charged over $3000.00 on my credit card. I told them that the account was a fraud and had them freeze the account immediately. I then called my bank to change my credit card number and dispute the amounts debited to Paypal.

I am absolutely sure that the my credit card information was stolen and compromised through Vonage because I haven't used that credit card for anything else.

If you need to give any credit card information to Vonage or any other company for that matter, do so securely online rather than giving the information to an operator. Also, If you have singed up for a Vonage account the same way I have, please check that your credit card information has not been compromised.

This is a fraud attempt made BY PAYPAL. I use to have paypal and had the same thing happen. paypal would investagate it, but would not disclose to me or my bank what happened or or did it. go to www.paypalsucks.com to learn more.

Posts: 168

Yamboo29 wrote:

This is a fraud attempt made BY PAYPAL. I use to have paypal and had the same thing happen. paypal would investagate it, but would not disclose to me or my bank what happened or or did it. go to www.paypalsucks.com to learn more.

Ummm....If Paypal was attempting the fraud, why would they call the OP and ask him if he indeed opened this account? Very Happy

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 09, 2005 Posts: 8

hookbill wrote:

Yamboo29 wrote:

This is a fraud attempt made BY PAYPAL. I use to have paypal and had the same thing happen. paypal would investagate it, but would not disclose to me or my bank what happened or or did it. go to www.paypalsucks.com to learn more.

Ummm....If Paypal was attempting the fraud, why would they call the OP and ask him if he indeed opened this account? Very Happy

Because Paypal is about the Stupid. Besides, most people would think nothing of it and confirm it anyways.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

Rem wrote:

Thanks Steve48. I'll definitely do that. Not to be paranoid but I think you should have just PMed me the information above because what's to stop anyone who reads this from telling her that the same thing happend to them based on the information here. My identity would have been stolen again albeit to a lesser degree.

I don't think a person trying to do that would get very far, since your real name, location, and so forth aren't published on the forum. He could report a similar situation, but he couldn't back it up with facts as you can.