A T-Mobile customer suspects internal fraud is the reason behind monthly escalating charges that he knows nothing about. | Image credit-Reddit
In May, that extra amount was $454.91. At first, he thought that he was paying for his new phone but the next month, in addition to paying the usual $125.83 via autopay, he was charged an additional $791.57. And the following month, besides the autopay amount of $125.83, he was billed $996.67. On a three-way phone call with T-Mobile and the customer’s credit card company (Capital One), the T-Mobile rep on the phone couldn’t find the charges.
The consumer’s first thought was that he was a victim of internal fraud although he admits that he could have handled the whole purchase better.
“…but true I should manage my expenses better. But the reason I titled it internal fraud is I didn’t create more than 1 accounts. I have one account and it only shows I was billed so much. True I shoulda jumped in quicker but either way I find it suspicious that from my first payment I’m being charged a separate charge at the exact same time. So yeah I do find it suspicious and suspect internal fraud. That does not mean I’m against external fraud possibilities. But I’m more than aware of crooked phone carriers especially when it comes to sim swapping.”-T-Mobile customer and Reddit subscriber “ridgiddrill”
On the other hand, the unknown charge drops on the same date and at the same time that his monthly autopay payment is run through. One Redditor says that he has seen this exact same thing happen before thanks to a rogue rep.
“The rep probably grabbed another coworkers tablet and added autopay to the account that person was working on. Realized it after and added it to the correct account but never removed it off the 1st one. The other customer of course will never come forward and complain because they’re getting a free bill. Saw this same exact thing happen in this matter on someone else’s account in this manner. Later the customer with the bill being paid by someone else went in and complained because they were suspended and had a ridiculously high balance. They were told they were responsible for the balance because they never paid. They ended up canceling and letting all the phones and balance hit their credit.”-Reddit subscriber 21cabbag3
We hope that the T-Mobile customer gets this cleared up and is reimbursed for the payments that he should not have made. But let this be a warning. If you are making a purchase from your carrier like buying a new phone, or adding new lines, make sure that you understand exactly what you will be charged. Sometimes buying a new phone and taking advantage of a deal offered by your wireless provider can be confusing. Don’t sign off until you know exactly what your new monthly payments will be.
Considering the pressure that carriers are putting on their reps to meet certain performance and revenue metrics, you can’t completely rule out this being what the victim calls “internal fraud.” On the other hand, buying a new phone without clearly understanding how and how much you are expected to pay for it is not what a smart consumer should do.