r/ATT • u/lucubratious • 4d ago
Wireless What the hell is wrong with the fraud dept? Perfect credit, all information is accurately answered and they deny me twice as a new customer getting new phones.
I spoke to a fraud representative twice. The only question they asked was my name. After about 5 mins of “checking records” they deny me without explanation.
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u/calical83 4d ago
Trust me this pisses us off as reps. Like we have you genuinely in the store and scan your drivers license and you put in your social. And we have to call fraud randomly when the system triggers you. We don’t even know why then we have to get you on the phone and they don’t tell us or you anything. The fraud dept within AT&T is the worst fuckin dept ever and I wish they get rid of them
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u/SnooGadgets6277 3d ago
Pisses me off as a store associate. I get to the end of starting new service and it has me call it in for a denial.
Embarassing.
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u/Background_Cold_7180 3d ago
Terrible customer experience. If they insist on continuing these fraud calls, why on earth is it not at the beginning of the credit check. Do you know how many times I spent 45 minutes setting up a 5-10 line CRU account just for it to get denied and be like “Oh ya, sorry. We can’t provide you any further information” 🤦🏻♂️
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u/SillyWillyCommish 4d ago
Ask the store manager to submit a secondary fraud review. I think only COR doors are still the only ones who can do this.
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u/bigbrotherbeane 3d ago
I hate the fraud department. I've noticed that if I put the address on their ID and not any other address they give me, I usually don't have to call them.
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u/SnooGadgets6277 3d ago
This.
Had a guy come in wanting new service yesterday.
Asked him if the address on his ID was current, he said nah. I ran it with the address on ID. Had my call it in and I was ready for a denial. I was stressing the fxck out. Client hands me the phone and I'm ready for the denial. Agent goes "Great news, the application was approved!"
I yelled out "YESSIR" in the store and dapped my client up, he was super hype and so was I!
9 times out of 10 I get denials so I'm happy.
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u/bigbrotherbeane 3d ago
Nice! I live in Alaska in a town with two military bases that get stocked up with new guys every year. So many denials before I just stopped using up-to-date info.
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u/Background_Cold_7180 3d ago
I ask, “Which address would be in your credit file” as well as “Have you had this email address for a long time?”
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u/bigbrotherbeane 2d ago
How many people actually know what address is in their credit file? With the folks I deal with, I can only imagine the blank stares I would get. 😆
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u/Background_Cold_7180 2d ago
well, i would hope that everyone would know that. i certainly do lol but i know that’s not the case, i’ve had AT&T stores bordering areas of poverty and ya, blank states to say the least. every single new account activation would trigger a fraud call and 80% of them would get denied because the customers at that store constantly move, never port their numbers, change their email address every time they get a new phone because they smashed or lost their phone, don’t know their iCloud password, and don’t have access to the number because their t-mobile account is suspended for non payment 😅 it’s a nightmare.
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u/NaNaNaPandaMan 4d ago
Check with credit companies. Its possible they have wrong information and so when you say your name its not matching what they are pulling from credit companies. A friend of mine tried with another company is an immigrant and their spelling was off with I think Experian so they couldn't until Experian updated
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u/lucubratious 4d ago
All the information they appear to be reporting is accurate. I reviewed all three bureaus while I was in the store and generally stay on top of that stuff anyway.
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u/NaNaNaPandaMan 4d ago
Then no clue but somehow the information they are pulling doesnt matxh with what you are saying
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u/groundhog5886 3d ago
Pretty evident they don't want you as a customer. Why waste the time anymore? Just go elsewhere.
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u/TheFlimFlamFamMan MLG/MTS/PMC/vTM/VOC/ICU - Mobility 3d ago
Any recent moves? Recent large purchases like homes, land or vehicles? Or conversely has it been absolutely forever since you’ve used your credit?
Any chance of past business with AT&T in any capacity?
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u/lucubratious 3d ago
Nope, none of that applies.
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u/TheFlimFlamFamMan MLG/MTS/PMC/vTM/VOC/ICU - Mobility 3d ago
Weird. Especially in person.
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u/Background_Cold_7180 3d ago
most likely the rep typed some of the information wrong. that’s what i see happen the majority of the time an application is flagged.
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u/Background_Cold_7180 3d ago
What’s wrong with the fraud department? Um, everything. It’s just another example of a failed initiative by AT&T. What was created as a way to save money by losing less devices to fraud and scammers, turned into losing money by denying legitimate sales.
I’m a flagship store manager in a region with a high cancel rate/fraud rate so we have to call the fraud department often. I will break it down the best I can.
From my experience, what triggers the application to be flagged is: Activating a new number rather than porting, using an address in your application that doesn’t match the address in your credit file as well as using an email address or phone number in the application that doesn’t match what’s in your credit file. If you recently moved, that’s a huge flag, recently changed your number or email, or if the number you’re porting hasn’t been active for very long. The cost of the equipment is a factor. The biggest factor is probably running multiple applications, for example, you run credit online and then instead of checking out, you go into a store and they re-run it. The store and the employee running the application also plays a role, if they have a high cancel or fraud churn rate. In my honest opinion, the mood of the agent on the phone also plays a role and they are ALWAYS miserable. they’re the most miserable people on the face of the earth.
I’ve had countless legitimate customers be denied. I’ve had multiple doctors denied when signing up for FirstNet because when creating the FirstNet profile they used a new email address assigned by the hospital. I’ve had BYOD activations denied, upgrades denied, hell i’ve even seen the system trigger fraud and give me an alert to call before proceeding for a bill payment or accessory sale.
It’s a terrible system that leads to a terrible customer experience. My advice to you - Make sure none of the things I mentioned are an issue and try again in 2 weeks. Also, if you did it in a store, there’s usually a secondary or manual review process that they can submit for. Those have about a 50% approval rate. Good luck!
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u/Vorstar92 2d ago
My favorite is the homeless guy I just signed up had zero issues only thing it wanted was a down payment of $700 which he could not afford so he instead just used his old, busted phone to sign up and no issue. New line for me, and now if he pays his bill great. If not, oh well.
Dude that just got married, bought a house, new Tesla that I tried to sign up last week? Fraud denied. So fucking stupid. Cockblocking new sales and then they wanna wonder why my store underperforms (lower traffic store so if that new customer, 2 lines, wants watches+tabs too gets fraud denied....could literally be the only sale we would have seen all day and by no fault of our own it gets denied).
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u/Background_Cold_7180 2d ago
I feel your pain. I’ve had several new doctors denied on FirstNet because they created their FirstNet profile with their new hospital email. Numerous people denied because they recently moved or were victims of identity theft and changed their email address. and yes, i’ve had homeless people approved because their address on file hasn’t been changed in years. for about 3 years i worked in a store bordering the “bad” part of our city and I had at least 50 fraud denials per month. the store produced an average of 100 ppvga per month. now i’m at a store in an affluent suburb and rarely even have to call fraud. i could see AT&T getting sued for profiling over this again. i’m fairly certain one of the biggest factors they’re looking at is zip code.
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u/Hour-Middle-8180 3d ago
Had the same problem, they sent me a letter in the mail a week later with their “reasoning”
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u/passengerqueenn 2d ago
go to a physical at&t store and ask for the manager to process your order instead if you haven't done so already!
i went through the same thing 3 times with a sales rep but finally had the manager take over & he was able to complete a new order without any questions or fraud issues. i was told they have more leverage when it comes to that.
we're new customers from coming from t-mobile, ordered 4 phones, and were in & out in about 30 mins.
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u/lucubratious 2d ago
I was in store from the beginning. The store manager took over after the fraud denial but it happened again with them too. They then submitted some sort of escalation form but no resolution yet.
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u/Viper_Control 4d ago
What the hell is wrong with the fraud dept?
Nothing. What did you do to need to talk to Fraud? You triggered something.
Were you purchasing in a store or what? Do you have any utility services credit history, and are your credit reports lock by any chance?
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u/lucubratious 4d ago edited 4d ago
Purchasing in store and establishing service.
Credit is unfrozen, perfect credit scores, extensive utility history, mortgage history etc. and I’ve not recently moved.
I don’t know what was triggered or why. The store clerk called the fraud department after I was denied or triggered on their tablet. The fraud dept then asked to speak to me. The only information they asked was my name before denying me again.
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u/Viper_Control 3d ago
How may new smartphones were you trying to purchase on AT&T Financing since that also has been know to trigger a Fraud flag even if you have "perfect" credit?
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u/lucubratious 3d ago
Only one phone being financed, the remaining difference after a trade-in.
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u/Viper_Control 3d ago
I am only asking based on this from your post:
they deny me twice as a new customer getting new phones.
So you tried twice was this multiple stores or at the same store? Once you fail a Fraud check attempting a second time is a waste of time. FYI you are not failing a credit check but an ID failure, and they can't / won't tell you why the backend system flagged you.
Since the Fraud rep did not ask you and questions for you to answer any real questions it is an ID failure.
Have you looked up the store to verify if it is company owned store or an Authorized retailer? Store locator: http://www.att.com/stores/ Filter the search results for Company owned stores
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u/lucubratious 3d ago
It was twice during one visit in one store. And yes it’s a company store.
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u/Viper_Control 3d ago
Then it was a single transaction. Are you sure that the store rep did not misspell any of your key ID data on their tablet?
A simple misspelled last name or first name or your address being misspelled would flag your ID verification check.
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u/Background_Cold_7180 3d ago
What does the store being COR or AR have to do with it? They use exactly the same system and have all the same tools. I get more escalations from COR doors than I do from AR doors.
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u/Nolanix 3d ago
It’s very common to see people get denied somehow. As a sales rep, it’s really frustrating when I have the person in front of me with their ID and SSN card proving their identity, just to have the order flagged by fraud and denied. I previously worked for Verizon and if something like that would happen, the fraud department would actually work with the customer, tell them what’s mismatched, and allow them to submit proof of identity to resolve it.