Verizon knowingly bills its customers for fraudulent charges until they complain, according to a new class-action lawsuit.
Brooklyn lawyer and plaintiff Lowell Sidney told The Post that he uncovered the money-grubbing tactic after noticing that his usual $150 monthly Verizon bills had skyrocketed to as much as $230.
Since he’d enabled Autopay, he didn’t catch the abnormally high charges for about five months. When he finally called Verizon, he was directed to its Fraud Services Department, according to his Brooklyn federal suit.
“Fraud Services said that on Oct. 22, 2016, an unknown person entered a Best Buy store in Wesley Chapel, Florida, claimed to be [Sidney], and ordered a cellphone and phone service from Verizon,’’ the suit said.
“When the store requested basic identifying information, the imposter fled the store.”
But “in spite of having no proof of the identity of the imposter, the payments for this new cellphone and related services, which were ordered by the imposter, were attached to [Sidney’s] bill in New York,” according to court papers.
Sidney’s lawyer, Athas Ioannou, told The Post it was more than clear to Verizon at the time that the other guy was a crook. Yet “they left whatever he requested on the bill, which is absolutely absurd,” Ioannou said.
“It’s clearly an attempt to retain money that they know is not theirs,” the lawyer added.
Sidney’s suit says that “when [he] inquired about Verizon’s failure to notify him of this deception, Fraud Services stated that it was not Verizon’s corporate policy to notify their customers about potential or detected fraud.’’
Sidney told The Post that during his Feb. 18 conversation with Verizon, “The woman I spoke to was very candid that, ‘That’s our policy.’”
He eventually was reimbursed for the fraudulent charges. But although he has been a Verizon customer for 17 years, he said he plans on changing carriers when his contract expires.
“I am not sure if the competition provides comparable service, but to my knowledge, they don’t actively engage in defrauding their own customers,” Sidney said.
He is suing for at least $75,000 in damages on behalf of himself and other Verizon customers who may have had similar experiences.
His lawyer said many Verizon customers are likely getting caught in the alleged fraud dragnet because so many people use Autopay and don’t closely scrutinize monthly bills.
A spokesman for Verizon said he could not comment on pending litigation.