Anyone Ever Have Their Cell Phone Stolen?

[tryrrthg]

My wife's purse was stolen on Monday. :mad: The sh*theads got about $1300 spent on our cards before we got them all closed. We put fraud warnings to the credit bureaus, etc.

My question now is with her cell phone. It was in her purse and obviously stolen. We got a 30 day shut-down for that phone. That is all the company offered to us at the time. My wife and I have Verizon. We have a family account, so we share minutes. They are sending her a new phone, but should she get a new number too? Should I get a new number since we're on the same account? What should we do?

Any help would be great! Thanks!

[bobman1235]

I'm pretty sure you're fine. Once you report a phone stolen, they deactivate that phone, and it can no longer be used. Once you get a new phone linked to your existing number, no other phone can use that number.

[Mike682]

Originally posted by bobman1235
I'm pretty sure you're fine. Once you report a phone stolen, they deactivate that phone, and it can no longer be used. Once you get a new phone linked to your existing number, no other phone can use that number.

That's true, I tried to switch and use my old phone and was told by verizon that I had to bring both phones in and have a tech switch the phones. You cannot have two phones using the same number.

You should be ok, once the bums realize the phone doesn't work they will probably dump it somewhere.

[ND13]

Originally posted by bobman1235
I'm pretty sure you're fine. Once you report a phone stolen, they deactivate that phone, and it can no longer be used. Once you get a new phone linked to your existing number, no other phone can use that number.

+1

[danger boy]

i worry about getting my phone stolen or lost.. and the phone numbers stored on it..
i now lock the phone.. and there is no way anyone can unlock it to use it or to get into the phone book.

[tryrrthg]

Thanks everyone!

that's how I thought it would work too, but the cop told us otherwise. The block only stops that phone from working for 30 days. I don't know, maybe he didn't get his point across or we didn't get ours across. from now on I'm going to be locking our phones when they're not in use...

Anyone else have an opinion?

[Danny Tse]

Every cell phone has its own ESN, or Electronic Serial Number. Think of it as the cell phone's VIN. Each cell phone number is linked to an ESN, so when you get a new phone and enter the new phone's ESN to your cell phone number....new phone works, old phone dead.

Are you still under contract to Verizon? Verizon can suspend (that's what they call it) your wife's cell phone number for up to 30 days, but if you are still under contract, it can enforce the contract on you even though you have no phone. After all, Verizon is still providing service to your wife's cell phone number. And the whereabouts of the phone is not Verizon's responsibility.

Talk to Verizon and ask about getting credits for calls you/your wife didn't make. They should have a specific department that handles that type of issue. If you didn't get charged for calls made while the phone was not in your possession (i.e. within your included mins.), then just leave the issue alone.

BUT GO THROUGH YOUR BILL WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB!!

I used to work for GTE Wireless, predecessor of Verizon.

[tryrrthg]

Originally posted by Danny Tse
Every cell phone has its own ESN, or Electronic Serial Number. Think of it as the cell phone's VIN. Each cell phone number is linked to an ESN, so when you get a new phone and enter the new phone's ESN to your cell phone number....new phone works, old phone dead.

Are you still under contract to Verizon? Verizon can suspend (that's what they call it) your wife's cell phone number for up to 30 days, but if you are still under contract, it can enforce the contract on you even though you have no phone. After all, Verizon is still providing service to your wife's cell phone number. And the whereabouts of the phone is not Verizon's responsibility.

Talk to Verizon and ask about getting credits for calls you/your wife didn't make. They should have a specific department that handles that type of issue. If you didn't get charged for calls made while the phone was not in your possession (i.e. within your included mins.), then just leave the issue alone.

BUT GO THROUGH YOUR BILL WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB!!

I used to work for GTE Wireless, predecessor of Verizon.
We are still under contract. The guy she talked to at Verizon said her phone would be suspended for 30 days and he would send her a new phone. We could then get the new phone activated. he never specifically said whether or not the old phone would die. he also told her that our contract will be extended for 30 days, no big deal since we probably aren't switching anytime soon...

[PhantomOG]

Originally posted by tryrrthg
We are still under contract. The guy she talked to at Verizon said her phone would be suspended for 30 days and he would send her a new phone. We could then get the new phone activated. he never specifically said whether or not the old phone would die. he also told her that our contract will be extended for 30 days, no big deal since we probably aren't switching anytime soon...

if you reported the phone as stolen, then it is dead completely. they can't even re-activate it with a different phone number because Verizon keeps a list of stolen ESN's and will not activate numbers on that list. So the phone is completely useless to the theif now, they will probably just throw it away or try to sell it to some unsuspecting person. BTW, if you ever buy a phone on Ebay, you should request the ESN from the seller and make sure it is not on the lost/stolen ESN list.

Unless the person somehow made a ton of calls before you suspended the account, you should be fine. No need to change numbers or anything.

[spwuinmk67]

Once stolen or even lost, an ESN is flagged, never to work again. And the cell number is linked to your account and name, not the phone ESN, so keeping your number isn't an issue, I do ESN swaps all day long. Even if you lock your phone, using a lock code, you can get around it. I had my mother lock my old phone on me so I could only call her. I stopped at my Verizon store, said someone changed the lock code on me and locked my phone, within 30 min, my phone was unlocked and I had the code. They have a machine to scan through all possible codes.

[tryrrthg]

Thanks everyone for the info! It's great having the internet, there is always someone who knows something about anything! ;)

I just got off the phone with Verizon. They confirmed what you guys have been telling me. Good news: There were no calls made during the time it was stolen and the time we reported it, so that is good. The bad news is we've been making so many calls on my phone that we're almost over our minutes and our new billing cycle just started... :(

I just hope this whole mess stops at them using our credit cards and they don't go stealing our identity or screwing up our credit! freakin low lifes :mad:

[MacLeod]

You see I have this strategerie, I max out all my credit cards so even if somebody stole them they wouldnt be able to use them. :D