May 2, 2006 1:26 am US/Pacific
The Wireless Runaround
by Jeanette Pavini
RICHMOND, Calif. (CBS 5) ―
You'd think if the FBI were investigating the calls made from your stolen cell phone, your wireless carrier would work with you on the charges. But that wasn't the case for one Bay Area woman.
One day it was there. The next day, Pamela Woodson's cell phone was gone.
"I was on my phone at a store around the corner," Woodson said. "Well, I realized I couldn't find it. It was stolen."
That was Oct. 26, 2005. And Woodson did exactly what she was supposed to do: filed a theft report with the Richmond Police Department.
Then, she called her carrier, T-Mobile.
"They said, 'if you know who took your phone, I suggest you get the money from them,' " Woodson said.
Woodson found herself liable for a $1,700 bill, up from her usual $75 a month. She disputed the charges but was most concerned when she saw her call log.
In a matter of hours, her stolen cell phone was used to call not only Detroit and Brooklyn, but also Italy, Morocco, and 25 times to Yemen.
CBS 5 took Woodson's bill to retired FBI agent Rick Smith.
"Yemen is definitely the concern," Smith said. "It's been a haven for terrorist activity. You don't want to jump to conclusions. It's just in this day and age of connecting the dots, there's a few dots that need to be connected here."
And that's exactly what Woodson thought, too, so she called the FBI, who, she says, questioned her for three hours.
"A three-hour interview would suggest that they feel as though there may be something to it," Smith said.
The FBI won't comment on investigations, but in a January letter to T-Mobile, Woodson passed along the name of the FBI agent assigned to her case and again disputed the $1,700 bill.
It got worse. T-Mobile tacked on an extra $400 in service charges and sent her to collections.
"They are victimizing their consumers which have already been victimized," Woodson said. "It's like on top of everything, they stole your phone, well, let me ruin your credit and take all your money, too."
"The cell phone industry is the giant gorilla, and they only respond when they are going to get bad PR," said Commissioner Geoff Brown of the California Public Utilities Commission.
Six months after Woodson's cell phone was stolen and after CBS 5 got involved, T-Mobile contacted her and said they would like to take care of the overage charges.
T-Mobile wiped out Woodson's entire bill and said, in a
statement, "T-Mobile is happy to have worked with Ms. Woodson to find a solution for her stolen cell phone including credit for fraudulent charges. It's T-Mobile's goal to provide excellent customer care to each customer and also to follow the guidelines and policies to benefit all customers."
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Full T-Mobile Response Statement Tips From the Attorney General's Office Tips From The FCC On The Hook For Cellphone Fraud State Still Looking At Cell Phone Reforms
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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