Verizon is allegedly suckered into giving a female customer's home address to her stalker

Verizon is allegedly suckered into giving a female customer’s home address to her stalker،

The nation's largest wireless carrier, Verizon, fell for a scam that resulted in the company handing over a customer's home address and phone data to a man named Robert Michael Glauner who pretended to be a police officer. According to ArsTechnicaAn affidavit submitted to court last week revealed Glaunder was arrested near the unidentified woman. Verizon at the client's home and he was carrying a knife at the time of his arrest.

Verizon failed to notice that an email request for a customer's phone data came from a Proton Mail address

In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Glauner was charged with stalking and fraud “in connection with obtaining confidential telephone records.” Normally we can include a link to these records, but since they contain the victim's home address, we will leave it out. The couple did have a romantic relationship, but after the victim ended it, he “continued to contact or attempt to contact,” his court documents note.

Excerpt from official court documents - Verizon was allegedly tricked into giving a customer's home address to her stalker

Extract from official court documents

Glauner was able to obtain his address and other information by sending an email and a fake search warrant to vsat.cct@one.Verizon.com which is the email address of Verizon Security Assistance Team (VSAT) that handles legal requests to the carrier. Verizon failed to realize that the request for the customer's personal information was false, even though it came from an account using a Proton Mail address instead of a police department or government agency.

Email to Verizon came from “[email protected]” and said, “Here is the pdf file of the search warrant. We are in need if the [sic] this cell phone data as quickly as possible to locate and apprehend this suspect. We also need the full name of it Verizon the subscriber and the new telephone number assigned to him. Thank you.” Attached to the email was a document containing a false affidavit written by “Detective Steven Cooper” of the Cary, North Carolina Police Department. The department does not have a detective by that name in his team.

The false affidavit requested the Verizon the customer's new phone number as well as “outgoing and incoming call records” and “locations and incoming and outgoing text messages.” The affidavit for a search warrant was approved by Superior Court Judge Gale Adams, whose signature was forged on the document. THE Verizon The Security Assistance Team received a phone call from fake Detective Cooper stating that he was investigating a homicide and needed information on a suspect.

The couple met in the dating section of the porn site xHamster

FBI Special Agent Michael Neylon stated in his affidavit that “on October 5, 2023, Verizon Wireless provided Glauner with victim 1's phone records, including her address and phone records. » The VSAT website states: “Verizon's Security Support Team will only accept valid legal requests (subpoena, court order, or search warrant) for records.” » of course, unless they are led to believe that a false request for information is real.

404Media was the first to report the incident, noting that Glauner met the woman in the dating section of the porn site xHamster and after Verizon Given the victim's address, he traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina from New Mexico to meet her in person. Before his arrival, he sent a threatening message that read: “If I can't have you, no one can.” » He also threatened to send nude photos of the woman to her family members.

It should be noted that Verizon cooperates with law enforcement. It should also be noted that at the time he allegedly committed the acts mentioned above, Glauner was wanted by the San Diego Sheriff's Office for stalking an ex-girlfriend. The police report in this case stated “that [the victim] had changed phone number 4 times in the last four months, but somehow [Glauner] continues to receive his number.'”