TAMPA, Fla.-Verizon Wireless said it obtained an immediate injunction against Florida-based private investigative agency Global Information Group, which the carrier said had attempted to obtain confidential information about Verizon Wireless subscribers.
In its lawsuit against the agency, filed Nov. 2 in Hillsborough County, Fla., Verizon claims GIG made “thousands of attempts” to obtain confidential information about its wireless customers without proper authorization and used “various fraudulent ‘schemes’ to do so, including impersonating Verizon Wireless employees and posing as Verizon Wireless customers.”
The carrier said it received an immediate temporary restraining order that prohibits GIG from further attempts to obtain confidential information, any further contact with Verizon Wireless customer service centers, or providing any confidential customer information to third parties. Verizon Wireless said it also obtained an order from the court allowing it to seize any information GIG may have gathered. Hillsborough County Sheriff deputies carried out the order Nov. 7.
“Verizon Wireless will use all the weapons on our legal arsenal to protect our customers’ private and confidential information,” said Steven Zipperstein, general counsel and vice president of legal and external affairs for Verizon Wireless. “We simply will not tolerate fraudulent schemes that prey on our company and our customers.”
Verizon Wireless added that it received a similar court order earlier this year preventing a Tennessee-based company from using fraudulent means to obtain and sell confidential customer telephone records, and received injunctions in Florida and California preventing telemarketing firms from making sales calls to its wireless customers.
