I was lucky enough to find out an IP address when my identity was stolen this past July. The thief tried to buy a domain name with my credit card and the company (bluehost) shared as much info with me as possible about the criminal.
I tracked the IP address and it was linked with Verio. When I tried to get more information from Verio, it went like this:
Hello Bethany,
Thank you for contacting Verio Customer Service regarding fraudulent purchase made from one of our IP address; unfortunately, we only processes credit card fraud when a credit card is use fraudulently to SET UP a web hosting account, not when used on a customer's web site. Please contact your financial institution for further resolution and credit. If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact me or visit our support site at:
Http://verio.com/support/documents/
Thanks for choosing Verio!
Sincerely,
Ricardy
Verio Customer Service
Verio an NTT Communications Company
Toll Free: 800-GET-VERIO
email: [email protected]
I responded:
Hi Ricardy,
The point of me contacting your company was to obtain information about the IP address/website/customer so that the criminal might be found and prosecuted. I have already gotten my money back; this is about helping future victims of identity theft.
It's unsettling that your company seems apathetic about the fact that one of your customers is potentially a criminal or being used unknowingly by a criminal. I would appreciate cooperation in my pursuit of justice.
I cannot report any of the information that I have to the FTC because I cannot verify that the name, address, phone number, email, etc. That I have do in fact belong to the criminal in question. I would hate to submit information about a person who is innocent because it will stay inside of their database.
Are you saying that there is no possible way to give me information on the customer with that IP address? If anything, I would expect your company to at least tell them that their IP address was used. Or, perhaps I'll have to tell them. I'm not trying to be a pain here, just wishing that someone would actually care instead of telling me "it's not their problem" and that they have no further responsibility to help. This situation has shown me that corporations are so jaded that they prefer to go only as far as they are legally obligated. Please don't bother to send me another heartless form letter. Reply if you've got something valuable to say.
Bethany
He ACTUALLY responded:
Hello Bethany,
Thank you for your reply, unfortunately, Customer Service can not provide you the information you are seeking. For further assistance, please contact our legal department at [email protected]. If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact me or visit our support site at:
Http://verio.net/support
Thanks for choosing Verio!
Sincerely,
Ricardy
Verio Customer Service
Verio an NTT Communications Company
Toll Free: 800-GET-VERIO
Email: [email protected]
Maybe I should have replied to their legal department, but felt pretty helpless after encountering so much apathy when it came to my identity theft (even from the government). I thought maybe by posting this up someone else may have encountered a similar thing. I was also appalled at his assertion: "we only processes credit card fraud when a credit card is use fraudulently to SET UP a web hosting account, not when used on a customer's web site."
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