CUTLER BAY, Fla. – Police arrested a Miami woman on two felony charges Tuesday after accusing her of using her job as a third-party customer service agent to defraud AT&T out of more than $200,000.
Authorities said Brittney Nicole Williams, 32, of Coconut Grove, was able to fraudulently ship 147 devices to South Florida before she was caught.
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According to an arrest report, Williams hit the ground running after she was hired at Alorica’s call center at 19500 S. Dixie Highway in Cutler Bay, placing fraudulent orders “immediately,” starting on June 16, 2022.
AT&T and other companies outsource vendors like the California-based Alorica to service their customers.
Police said she created fraudulent direct orders using account numbers for existing AT&T business customers, added new lines to their accounts and shipped devices to addresses in the Miami area, including her home on Charles Terrace.
Williams “took advantage of the fact that these are large businesses with a significant number of accounts (i.e., Gap, Inc., Spirit Aviation, World Fuel, etc.), so adding lines to these accounts resulted in a delay in AT&T and the customer identifying the fraudulent activity,” a Miami-Dade detective wrote in the report.
According to the arrest report, Williams’ last order was on Nov. 10 and an AT&T investigator alerted police to the matter on Nov. 28.
Williams no longer works for Alorica, the report states.
“Since this activity was perpetuated by (Williams) working as a representative of an authorized vendor of AT&T, AT&T is responsible for the equipment losses, and as such, has adjusted those charges from the customers’ bills,” the detective wrote. “All the customers impacted have been notified and made whole by AT&T.”
Police said AT&T’s losses totaled $222,251. They arrested Williams Tuesday evening at the Wayside Fruit & Vegetable Market, located at 10070 SW 57th Ave. in Pinecrest, on charges of first-degree grand theft and organized scheme to defraud.
She bonded out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Wednesday, according to court records.
Local 10 News contacted Alorica and AT&T seeking comment and has not heard back as of publication of this article.