Court indicts dealers for a scam that cost $22 million to T-Mobile and AT&T

A Brooklyn court indicted 8 persons for running a fraudulent scheme that involved such dealers as Got Wireless and KP Wireless who used customer details to order handsets. The court documents say that the two of the defendants who ran cellular dealerships in New York and Florida, picked up customer details from the network's databases, then used the details to impersonate those customers and order additional handsets, as well as making insurance claims for broken handsets.

Got Wireless operated out of Brooklyn and was authorized with AT&T as well as T-Mobile, while KP Wireless was based in West Palm Beach, Florida, and only had access to T-Mobile's customer database. The owners of both companies exploited customers details to pose themselves as those people to purchase additional handsets or make insurance claims for replacements. The orders then were intercepted on their way during delivery or sent to defendants’ addresses.

According to the available information this group apparently bribed delivery drivers subcontracted by FedEx and DHL to intercept the packages, while other confederates scanned the boxes as having been successfully delivered. Later customers contacted the wireless operators to complaint about the charges on their bills for the devices. Thus, the companies had to write off the amounts which with shipping costs totaled $22 million.