Violation of privacy policy

[Rusty0007]

I've recently had an issue im not sure I will ever get to the bottom of. My estranged father recently passed away. we had a strained relationship, friendly but not close. Also, he lived 1000 miles away, which added to the distance. Anyway, before he died I visited him in the hospital for a few days. During the visit I noticed that my step mother ( even more estranged) was having issues with her cell phone. These are people of very limited means so I offered to add her to my family plan. It looked like my dad was going to recover and I would have felt  better knowing they had reliable communication abilities. 

This has been the ONLY time in my entire life that our credit paths have crossed. To clarify, I added her to my existing plan, just her too, not my dad. At the time I kinda knew that they were in financial distress. Within a few days I started getting calls on my cell from their debtors. At the same time all the sudden all their debt collectors knew their new cell number, within days. After his death they really got frequent and also they started calling my wife's phone too. These calls now have my info co-mingled with their past due accounts. I recent call from Chase had my address and contact info along with my name (first and last same as my dad) as account holder. Different social of course. Anyway there is no question in my mind that AT&T released my information to collection agencies. No question. Especially since my wife is also getting calls. Needless to say I'm furious. Calls to AT&T so far is a massive waste of time. I'm not over using the word massive either. It usually takes at least an hour to get blown off. 

After 13 yrs having multiple lines with AT&T, I'm seriously disgruntled. I'm scared to look at my credit report. I hope none of this is winding up on my report. Don't think it can't happen, it can. 

Ive seen several CSR's on here tallk about how strictly they adhere to their privacy policy. I'm here to say I'm 100% certain there has either been a gross violation of their policy or they have been hacked. Either way, I want answers. This was no mistake. 

[ujmnz]

They use skip tracing. As soon as you associated your number with them, there are systems that somehow find out about it. Same thing happened when I was with Verizon. I had a former coworker have a line on my account and all of a sudden I started getting calls on my number about her and if they can speak to her.

Not sure about how the skip tracing works, but they don't call ATT or Verizon directly and ask for the info. They use alternate ways to get that info somehow. Otherwise, these big companies would all be getting sued.

[Rusty0007]

I agree its some sort of skip tracing. I just can't figure out how they would get so much of my personal data without Att's help. I think they don't get sued because normally it would be very hard to trace back to the corp that supplied the info. Also, very hard to find out the source of the information being sold to the creditors, who the skip tracers were exactly. Anyway, thanks for your reply. It sounds like we have similar issues. If I may ask, is your issue resolved or are you still mixed up with the co-worker? 

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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Rusty0007 wrote:

I agree its some sort of skip tracing. I just can't figure out how they would get so much of my personal data without Att's help. I think they don't get sued because normally it would be very hard to trace back to the corp that supplied the info. Also, very hard to find out the source of the information being sold to the creditors, who the skip tracers were exactly. Anyway, thanks for your reply. It sounds like we have similar issues. If I may ask, is your issue resolved or are you still mixed up with the co-worker? 

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the data is accessable to creditors by other means, it does not have to come from a carrier

[ujmnz]

My former co-worker is no longer on my account and since i moved to att, i haven't really gotten calls for her. But i also changed my number since then. She says they did start calling her landline she got with time Warner though.

[Rusty0007]

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wingrider01 wrote:

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Rusty0007 wrote:

I agree its some sort of skip tracing. I just can't figure out how they would get so much of my personal data without Att's help. I think they don't get sued because normally it would be very hard to trace back to the corp that supplied the info. Also, very hard to find out the source of the information being sold to the creditors, who the skip tracers were exactly. Anyway, thanks for your reply. It sounds like we have similar issues. If I may ask, is your issue resolved or are you still mixed up with the co-worker? 

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the data is accessable to creditors by other means, it does not have to come from a carrier

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Since I did not sign for her on her own account but merely added her to my plan I'm confused how our personal information would have been combined ' by other means'. The only place our paths crossed on paper was in an AT&T corporate store. Its my account not hers. When that data was entered into their servers my issues originated. According to their privacy policy they don't share account info with third parties. If this is so, shouldn't it be impossible for creditors to gain access to my account info? These 'other means' you speak of must be pretty high tech, considering the phone, account and number belong to me, not her. I guess I could come closer to understanding if SHE went in, opened an account, and then these creditors started calling HER. But, adding a line on my 13 yr old account, phone in my name, I don't see how these 'other means' would find realivence without ATTs help. Obviously I'm not highly skilled in dealing with collection agency's. I'm not an expert on how they obtain their data. Actually most of these calls have not been from collection agency's but banks like Chase and such. Anyway, if anyone knows how this could happen without ATTs involvement please chime in. Thanks so much!