Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Man hit with sky-high cell phone bill

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2003 01:33:10 -0400

Man hit with sky-high cell phone bill
The Associated Press
10/23/03 5:22 AM

TROY, Mich. (AP) -- It's a phone bill worthy of E.T.
A 53-year-old Troy man told police he received a cell phone bill with nearly
$39,000 in past due charges from AT&T Wireless on Oct. 18.

"He reported that someone had used his name and social security number to open a
cell phone account," Troy police Lt. Steve Zavislak told the Daily Oakland Press.
According to Zavislak, the man did not have an account with the company.

The charges were accrued over a one-week period and three cell phones were put
placed on the account on Aug. 15, he said.

"Due to the high volume of calls, the account was subsequently canceled" in just
six days, Zavislak said.
Many of the calls were to numbers in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Germany.

"To ring up a phone bill that high was quite a feat," Zavislak said. "Identity
theft is probably the fastest growing crime that we're dealing with."

Zavislak said the man, who was not identified, was told by AT&T's fraud department
that he would not be responsible for the bill.

An investigation is under way and police are looking into the possibility the
rampant phone activity is linked to so other criminal enterprise.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g8690_BC_MI--AstronomicBill&&news&newsflash-michigan

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