Criminals put thousands of Verizon customers out of service by cutting cables and damaging network facilities

NEW YORK, April 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Verizon customers have been cut off from critical services over the past few days as criminals have damaged or destroyed critical network facilities. There have been at least 24 suspected incidents of sabotage over the past week in five states in which services where cut off for thousands of residential and business customers, including a local police and fire department in New Jersey.

"We will find out who's behind these highly dangerous criminal acts and we will pursue criminal charges," said Michael Mason, Verizon's chief security officer.  "These reckless perpetrators are risking the lives of countless Americans by cutting access to key lines of communications, especially to local police, fire and rescue personnel.  If someone has an emergency and needs to contact local authorities, these malicious actions could prevent that from happening."

Among the incidents: 

• Sliced fiber optic cabling at a network facility box in New Jersey that cut services to customers and local emergency personnel, including police and fire departments.
• Sabotage in Massachusetts in which phone services were cut off for customers for 16 hours.
• Cut fiber optic and copper cables in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York that disabled voice communications and internet connectivity.

"These perpetrators are putting lives at risk and these dangerous acts need to stop," said Mason, a former top official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "It's a violation of federal law to damage critical communications facilities. We have dispatched additional Verizon security teams in all states where this illegal activity is taking place.  We're also working with law enforcement to ensure our networks and facilities are secure so that our customers can connect where and when they need to."

These malicious actions take place as Verizon is experiencing a strike involving about 36,000 employees, primarily in its wireline business, in nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States plus Washington, D.C. Verizon Wireless operations have had very minimal impact from the strike.

Verizon is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals who intentionally damage Verizon cables or facilities.  Verizon urges anyone who witnesses sabotage of Verizon property or any misconduct or suspicious activity to call 911 immediately, and then contact the Verizon Security Control Center at 1-800-997-3287.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) employs a diverse workforce of 177,700 and generated nearly $132 billion in 2015 revenues. Verizon operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 112 million retail connections nationwide. Headquartered in New York, the company also provides communications and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts and other information are available at Verizon's online News Center at www.verizon.com/news/. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/.

Media contact:
Rich Young
908-559-3477
[email protected]

SOURCE Verizon

Related Links

http://www.verizon.com