BEWARE:

There’s nothing like coming to the realitization that you have had someone con you.

It’s even worse when you realize that it could have been potentially much worse.

When a person representing Verizon Phones called Fritz Guenther’s cell he never for a moment considered he would be duped and cheated.

The call came from 800-569-8440 and a representative claiming to work for Verizon asked if he would be willing to answer a three question customer relations survey.

Guenther admits he was deep into tax preparation and when they asked for the last three digits of his social security number he never hesitated.

Thats when the problems began to unfold.

The conmen called Verizon, changed his mailing address, and ultimately ordered two new phones.

The phones were to be delivered to an Atlanta address by Fed Ex.

A Fed Ex representative called to say the phones had been left with a nearby neighbor and, “that’s when I knew for sure something was wrong as there was no M. Allen close to me.”

Mr. Guenther phoned Verizon and worked out the problems at no cost to him, but admitted it could cause problems quickly. Later he discovered the same number registered on his wife’s phone, but she had not answered or called back.

In the all and all it wasn’t too unfortuante for the Guenthers but it could have been. They are not the only Verizon users to be contacted.

Sidney Police Chief Joe Aikens said that his department has been getting a number of reports of telephone fraud, literally.

Many Sidney residents have reported getting a phone call from a supposed Verizon cell phone provider asking for personal information from the residents’ accounts to verify the information and fix a problem with the account or other problems.

Once the residents gave out their information Aikens was informed that their information was stolen and who they talked to on the phone was not a real Verizon representative.

Cell phones were then shipped and billed under the resident’s cellular account to different houses throughout the United States.

Chief Aikens wants to warn Sidney residents to be aware of the scam and to think twice when giving out personal information over the telephone.