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Ameritech & Fraud Victims

"Guilty until you prove otherwise"
             -- Ameritech's motto?

The consumers whose stories appear below paint a very unflattering portrait of Ameritech's handling of fraud cases and its treatment of innocent victims. Its treatment of the disabled doesn't appear exactly sterling either.

T.P. of Kalamazoo, MI, writes:
A person stole my Social Security and opened a telephone line in a vacant house with my name & social security. With Ameritech's procedures, all you have to do is have a social security number and the name that goes with it and you can set up a phone w/no person to person contact (just over the phone). Not only did the person set up a phone at a vacant address, but they also got a pager.

What I really don't understand is that when this person was running up all these bills, why did they let it continue for so long. According to Ameritech, they never received any payment. Why would they let it go on so long then????

I do not have any friends or relatives in Ohio. The only thing in Ohio is my corporate office. My wife has spent well over 60 hours on this matter. She has called Ameritech of Ohio and spoken w/many people (who treat her like she is trash because they don't think we pay our bills). She has spoken w/2 separate collection agencies. We have written 3 letters.

Yet this bill can not be removed because they don't feel the information was good enough to prove that I lived in Michigan my whole life and the last 7 years at the same address.

The only way we found out about the bill was because we pulled our credit report because we were going to build a house and we wanted to find out how much we were pre-approved for. Ever since that day 1 year and 3 months ago, we have gone through a living hell trying to have it removed. It's amazing that Ameritech requires no proof when they are starting a service, but when someone disputes charges, you have to jump through 50,000 hoops for them. I have even offered to take a lie detector test.

Our credit is perfect other than this problem. There was an article in the Battle Creek Enquirer that a man in Battle Creek was having the same problem (he was on his 5th year fighting them).

Geoffrey of Lansing, MI, writes:
This is starting to sound like a broken record! I am moving to a new apartment in Lansing, so I called Ameritech on 7/25/00 to have my phone service set up. Imagine my surprise when the agent informed me that I had $600 in past due charges from Dec. '96 through Jan. '97! While the agent didn't act like I was some kind of deadbeat, she did not offer any real advice or assistance beyond telling me what hoops I would need to jump through to prove I hadn't lived in Detroit at the time in question.

At the time, I was thoroughly freaked out, thinking someone had my SSN and was running around ruining my credit! I went to the SS webpage and found a number for a credit reporting agency. The agent asked me the all-important question: "Was the phone service set up under your SSN and name, or just your SSN and someone elses name???" I apologized and called Ameritech back. Now imagine my surprise when I was informed that the account was set up with my SSN but the name of Micah something-or-other! Not even my own name!

Unfortunately, I did not retain any of my documentation from Dec. '96 through Jan. '97, so all I could find is a pair of old bank statements from those months, listing my SSN and address at the time. I faxed those with a photocopy of my drivers license (the second Ameritech agent demanded I fax a copy of my birth certificate!) and a photocopy of my SSN card, and called them to find out if they received the fax -- only to be told that the department that handles these problems is two days behind in their faxes! Sounds like more than a few people seem to have this problem...

Anyway, I contacted the Michigan Public Service Commission and told them my story. They responded right away, saying they had contacted Ameritech and would get back to me. Other than that, I haven't heard anything from anyone.

Just to make a long story longer ... my dad told me the same thing happened to him and his co-workers while he was working for the Michigan prison system. Apparently prisoners obtained access to the employees' SSN's and opened these bogus accounts in the employee's names. In a meeting with the employees, Ameritech tried telling them "tough luck, you owe us this money" (one of the men had his SSN used for 4 different accounts totalling $12,000!), to which the employees replied "No chance! Fix this ASAP!" Apparently when met with the unified opposition, Ameritech eventually backed down.

So...how does Ameritech use my SSN to open an account in someone else's name? How can they use my SSN to create accounts when they purportedly only want it to run a credit check?

J.S. of Chicago writes:
My name and social security number were used to open phone service at an address I have never lived at. This service was on for over three years. I started receiving notices from a collection agency telling me I owed Ameritech $2171.

When I called to find out why I was told there was an outstanding debt at an address I never lived at. I told this to Ameritech and was told what information I nedded to send in to dispute this bill.

I sent in all the information they asked for plus some other stuff I had. This would include a letter from my landlord stating that I had been their tenant for the last 5 years, a copy of my drivers lisence, copies of my payroll check stubs, W-2 forms, insurance statements, car statements, and anything else I could find.

Everytime I sent them something I was told I needed something else. In the meantime my current telephone service was dissconnected and they will not re-connect it until I pay $2,171 for the other bill.

I would like to know what I am supposed to do in this situation. It seems that I cannot provide enough information to settle this matter.

I would like to know what rights I have agains a large company like Ameritech and what I can do to keep from paying a huge debt that isn't mine. I am at the end of my rope and I desperately need help in resolving this problem.

Denise of Chicago writes:
On Dec 3, 1999 Mac at Ameritech called me and asked if I had a phone at an address on Walnut Street in Chicago. I said no, and he went on to ask me if this was the last four digit of my s.s. number, and I said yes.

He then told me that my identity was stolen. I was shocked. I asked him some questions and then later I got different answers then before. Since 9/15/97 this person has had phone service in my name.

I don't understand how this could happen. I have lived at my address for 14 years now. I have two phones in my name here. I don't understand how Ameritech can give someone service in my name, when they had to notice I wasn't canceling the service where I live. Don't you think that if it looks like I wasn't moving,they would call and confirm that the request for service at a different address was true or not?

I'm starting to believe it was an inside job, because Ameritech told me, the police can call and they would give all the information on who stole my identity. When the detective called Ameritech,they put him on hold and never comes back to the phone so he say.When I called Ameritech back, Stan from Ameritech tolded me that the police has to get a subpeona to get information. I then asked if it was an inside job, he then told me that I have to get a lawyer if I want any more information.

The detective who is supposed to be working with me doesn't seem too interested in my case. I do understand he has much bigger cases, but this is my life and Ameritech, I feel, is withholding information about a crime done to me.

Whoever has stolen my identity has my information and they can use it whenever they want to, whether it's 5 years or 10 years from now.

What I have read, dentity theft is a fast growing crime, I can now understand why. The police don't take identity theft as serious as other crimes. As for Ameritech is there anything that can be done on how they protect the rights of their customers?. From what I have seen on the Internet there are quite a few people in the same situation as me.

Bobbie of Detroit writes:
Ameritech let someone open a fraudulent account in my name and under my social security in September 1996. I have sent Ameritech documents trying to clear this matter for the last four years. They have treated me as if I was lying.

This matter has caused me to have a bad credit report. I have been unable to move my mother from a mental institution. I have been trying to buy a house and this has been very stressful. I have provided Ameritech with documents of my living address during this period. They will not give me any reason why they let someone open an account at an address where I never lived.

Randy of Royal Oak, MI, writes:
Someone has stolen my identity and run up a $5,000 phone bill in my name. This happened in 1995 and did not show up on my credit report until 1999. I have been dealing with Ameritech and the collection agency RMA (Risk Management Alternatives) for a year now and have finally proven my innocence.

For an entire year I have been denied credit from everyone and had my credit rating plunge 100 points. I have also been treated really rudely by Ameritech and RMA. Now that I am innocent, they tell me their sorry. That's it? Sorry. This is not acceptable.

They need to write letters to everyone who inquired a credit report on me and let them know that this was not my delinquncy. I have considered hiring a lawyer and taking legal action. I wanted to wait to hear back from you to do so.

There is more to the story, how does a company like Ameritech let someone run up a $5,000 home phone bill and not cut them off earlier? I asked them this and was given the runaround. I have no credit and my report was flawless before this happened.

It is outrageous that companies assume their customers are guilty until proven innocent and abuse innocent citizens in this manner. As for Randy's question, it doesn't seem likely that litigation would be worthwhile, unless Randy can show substantial financial loss because of Ameritech's blunder.