Nearly a half - dozen former employees at Verizon stores in Buckhead , Newnan and Smyrna have been indicted for allegedly opening accounts using stolen identity information and then fraudulently charging tens of thousands of dollars ’ worth of merchandise . The scheme involved a group of “ runners , ” who also brought stolen PII into the stores . The PII belonged to real people and included names , addresses , dates of birth , and Social Security numbers . Using the stolen information , the corrupt employees created Verizon accounts in the victims ’ names , without the victims ’ knowledge . The employees ran credit checks on the victims before opening the accounts , using the victims ’ Social Security numbers . The defendants then used the accounts to purchase tens of thousands of dollars ’ worth of wireless phones and accessories . After the fraudulent purchases , the accounts went into default , causing the victims to receive bills for the merchandise charged on the fraudulent accounts . Verizon immediately terminated the employees upon discovering the fraud . ;