My daughters incredibly stupid scam

[guy48065]

My 22yo daughter just informed me she had this great idea to open a Verizon account, get 5 high-end phones for $50 each, then sell the phones & cancel.
I know what's going to happen but apparently, incredibly, she didn't. ound:

Does anybody know a good excuse that will at least get Verizon to not charge her the bloated list price? She doesn't have $5000 and I can't help her with this.

 

[Mikestony]

That sounds incredibly nefarious.

Not sure I understand your second paragraph:

Does anybody know a good excuse that will at least get Verizon to not charge her the bloated list price? She doesn't have $5000 and I can't help her with this.

$5000.00?????

 

[DragonSlayer95]

That sounds incredibly nefarious.

Not sure I understand your second paragraph:

$5000.00?????

I believe he's referring to, if you cancel the account within I think 14 days without returning the device, you get charged full price for each device not returned rather than the subsidized price.

Not including each ETF, close to $5000 sounds about right

I may be wrong here, but I know if you cancel within 14 days, your not penalized, unless you don't return the devices. That's where the hefty fee's come in.

 

[funkylogik]

What Dragon says sounds right. In the UK anyway you can return nearly any product for any reason undamaged for a full refund within 14 days.
Hopefully there's a similar thing where you are and the contracts can be cancelled too :thumbup:

 

[DragonSlayer95]

Ya the only thing about that, the devices have to be returned within 14 days to avoid any device charge and any cancellation fee.

Otherwise the carrier would pretty much be crapped out of a lot of money.

 

[Mikestony]

Well, then in answer to this question:

Does anybody know a good excuse that will at least get Verizon to not charge her the bloated list price? She doesn't have $5000 and I can't help her with this.

tell her not to do it.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

I really feel this thread will go nowhere fast, and it just doesn't sit right with me.

I'm closing this thread, and if you have any questions, hit me up via pm and we can discuss this

Edit: upon further clarification from the op, I'm opening this back up

 

[guy48065]

The clarification is she already sold the phones (and cancelled the contract) & I'm looking for some advice as to what magic buttons to push at Verizon to get a break for the girl.

 

[funkylogik]

Ouch from the OP I thought she had ordered them but not sold them yet.
Think she's on her own there mate sorry :beer:
Has she payed back the people who bought them?

 

[DragonSlayer95]

Ouch, I'm not sure how flexible Verizon would be in that case, if flexible at all really.

My advice if any, try to talk some sense into your daughter and see if you can get through to her scamming a company like this is something you just can't do.

Maybe even talk her into giving the money back for who she sold the devices to.

Verizon may end up black listing these devices that'll lead to some ticked off people that bought them.

 

[FishenFool]

Actually, maybe the daughter should do some jail time for fraud. This is part of the reason why prices are so high.

 

[jimmydee]

Verizon will black list the phones if she doesn't return them. I bought a Sony Z from the internet and after a couple of weeks phone no longer worked on carrier because the person did just what your daughter did canceled the contract. I had to return the phone to the person I bought it from and it was past the two weeks so they were stuck paying for the phones full price. It was worse because this individual sold ten of them.

 

[hiredgun]

Ouch, I'm not sure how flexible Verizon would be in that case, if flexible at all really.

My advice if any, try to talk some sense into your daughter and see if you can get through to her scamming a company like this is something you just can't do.

Maybe even talk her into giving the money back for who she sold the devices to.

Verizon may end up black listing these devices that'll lead to some ticked off people that bought them.

After reading the whole thread myself and coming from a long line of "wheelers and dealers" I would say this is your best shot. Buy all the phones back before the 14 days run out, tell Verizon that your daughter was going to open up a small business and needed the phones for that but her business partner backed out and now she doesn't need the phones because she can't open the business on her own, and keep you fingers crossed!!!

 

[dan330]

wow.. how old is she?

good luck.. if you cant get the phones back.. she will have a black mark on her credit report for up to 10yrs.

lesson learned .. the hard way

 

[guy48065]

Would Verizon blacklist the phones even as they bill her for them? That doesn't make sense to me.

I don't see fraud or anything illegal in how this turned out. Illegal possibly in her intent, but I believe her that she really thought the phones cost her $50 each and she could keep them.

 

[DragonSlayer95]

If she read the TOS in the contract she signed for them, it states (this is for all carriers) if you cancel your contract within 14 days. You won't be penalized as long as you return the devices.

The sales rep should have informed her of this as well.

So yes once the contract is canceled which it is now, and the devices aren't returned in a timely manner, Verizon will blacklist them so they can't be used.

 

[dan330]

Would Verizon blacklist the phones even as they bill her for them? That doesn't make sense to me.

I don't see fraud or anything illegal in how this turned out. Illegal possibly in her intent, but I believe her that she really thought the phones cost her $50 each and she could keep them.

if that is what you think is right... maybe I can see how she got into this situation.


illegal in her intent.. possibly?
does that not = illegal?

again.. how old is she? 12? 15?

the phones are discounted down to $50.. they retail for $500 or more.
so that the carrier can recoup their money back plus profit..in the 2 yrs of services.

if you cancel the CONTACT.. they want their phone or money to cover the lost of phones. plus the cost of breaking the contact (after 14 days).

breaking contacts because it did not workout.. that is NOT illegal.
planning to beak the contact and never planning to pay the bills..
and taking about $5k in inventory.. that is illegal.

 

[hitesh123]

If u cant return the devices , Be prepare to pay 5k $ .
U can't get away like this, big red (Verizon) will do whatever in their capacity to recover these phones.

Its very hard to fool these big carrier .

Or you should have some super trick to fool them

But this is just not correct

 

[Hadron]

Would Verizon blacklist the phones even as they bill her for them? That doesn't make sense to me.

I don't see fraud or anything illegal in how this turned out. Illegal possibly in her intent, but I believe her that she really thought the phones cost her $50 each and she could keep them.

She was aware that the phones were worth a lot more than $50, because that was how this scam made her money. So she was certainly guilty of extreme stupidity if it didn't occur to her that a big company wouldn't just let her walk off with 5 times several hundred dollars worth of hardware and be fine with that.

Would they blacklist the phones if she pays? I'll defer to others who know VZW better, but it may depend on what she said. For example if she tried claiming they've been lost or stolen then it would be natural to blacklist the phones. If she said she wanted to keep the phones and just paid up then it's not obvious to me that they should blacklist them, but it sounds like she's not able to do that. But if she doesn't pay straight away I'd expect them to do exactly that, and then take other measures to retrieve what they are owed.

Not wishing to add to her pain, because I'm sure this has been quite a learning experience for her, but she has tried to defraud them. Although VZW won't have paid full retail for the phones they will have paid a lot more than $50 each. They will have no doubt what she was up to either, so it will be hard to make a case for leniency. All I can suggest is returning the phones if she can (which will mean facing the buyers, who won't be happy either) and paying up as quickly as possible if not.

 

[mikedt]

wow.. how old is she?

good luck.. if you cant get the phones back.. she will have a black mark on her credit report for up to 10yrs.

lesson learned .. the hard way

Will be a hard lesson I think, because she could find it very difficult or impossible to get a bank account, credit card, cellphone contract, loan, HP, mortgage, car credit, or anything that like that for the next ten years, if not more. To be credit blacklisted, maybe one of the worse things that can happen, worse than having to pay the $5,000 that could be owing to Verizon, because of contract default.

Another thing, credit reports and scoring are international. A friend of mine has a bad credit score, because he defaulted on a bank loan in the UK, paid it back eventually via a debt collector. But he's now been refused credit cards here in China from a Chinese bank.

 

[DonB]

The OP says she is 22

if that is what you think is right... maybe I can see how she got into this situation.


illegal in her intent.. possibly?
does that not = illegal?

again.. how old is she? 12? 15?

the phones are discounted down to $50.. they retail for $500 or more.
so that the carrier can recoup their money back plus profit..in the 2 yrs of services.

if you cancel the CONTACT.. they want their phone or money to cover the lost of phones. plus the cost of breaking the contact (after 14 days).

breaking contacts because it did not workout.. that is NOT illegal.
planning to beak the contact and never planning to pay the bills..
and taking about $5k in inventory.. that is illegal.

 

[DonB]

If she is still within the 14 day period, she best get the phones back, and do her damn best to return them. If not be prepared to pay full price on them. Second, if who she sold them too and if they have already activated them, then they will have an issue, they will be blacklisted as others have mention, and they will not be happy campers.

So I strongly suggest get the devices back, she fesses up with who she sold them to, this way she might make some money back to cover some of the expenses. She will not only have Verizon to deal with, but also the buyers to deal with, she will have a double whammy. Now if she sold them for a decent price, then she will not be out the $500 per device, only the difference she got paid for them and their value. Either way it will cost her money, unless she sold them to people she knew and can get them all back before the 14 days. There is no way out. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[dibblebill]

Honestly, best help you can get her now is to let her face the consequences. She's lucky it'll just be fees and not criminal chages. She tried to defraud someone, she has to face the consequences. She should have known what she was doing was wrong, even if she didn't fully comprehend the consequences. Her only real choice is to buy back the phones and return them.

I say tough luck, she is about to learn a hard and necessary lesson (and as someone else said, crap like this is part of why some goods cost too much)

 

[mikedt]

if that is what you think is right... maybe I can see how she got into this situation.


illegal in her intent.. possibly?
does that not = illegal?

again.. how old is she? 12? 15?

It's unlikely a minor would or could be able to get ten subsidised contract phones from a carrier, not without a parent or guardian signing the agreement. Unless the US doesn't have any age limits on credit agreements? 16 or 18 in the UK I think.

 

[DragonSlayer95]

It's unlikely a minor would or could be able to get ten subsidised contract phones from a carrier, not without a parent or guardian signing the agreement. Unless the US doesn't have any age limits on credit agreements? 16 or 18 in the UK I think.

18 here in the US, to my knowledge no exceptions as far as that goes.

 

[hiredgun]

I think the bottom line here is to cut your losses by whatever means necessary. By that I mean avoiding having to pay 5000 bucks, having your credit ruined, or going to "The Big House."