CFA: Cell phone shut-off risks

PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) - When the phone rings, Cheryl Healy prays that everything is ok.

"My mother in law lives in Florida and she just started the treatment for her stage 2 breast cancer."

To help alleviate some worry, she recently bought her mother in law a prepaid T-Mobile cell phone that she can use in case of an emergency.

"A prepaid phone is you pay for the minutes you use, there is no contract."

For $50, Cheryl put 500 minutes on the phone and her mother in law was ready to go.

But 2 weeks later he phone was shut off!

"I called her and got a recording that her phone has been disconnected!"

Cheryl says when they contacted T-Mobile customer service they were stunned by what they were told.

"They said it was turned off for fraudulent use, excessive messaging and inappropriate texting!"

According to Cheryl, T-Mobile said there was nothing they could do.

T-Mobile says her mother in laws phone number was recycled.

It was previously used by someone else who misused the phone.

T-Mobile apologized for shutting off the phone and reissued her a new number and added 100 free minutes.

The number issued to Cheryl's mother in law was mistakenly given out and was under investigation for spam.

T-Mobile called it an isolated incident and is now taking measures to prevent this issue from happening again.