How to Retrieve Deleted Text Messages Through Verizon Wireless

Maxwell Payne
If you have deleted a text message and discover that the text message contains information or evidence that you must have for legal reasons you may be able to request a history of old messages. Verizon handles request on a case by case basis and may require legal action on your part in order to obtain these records.

Call Verizon customer service and provide your account number and billing name and address. The contact information can be found in the References section of this article.

Request a printed or electronic copy of your recent text messages be included with your next bill statement. Provide a time frame such as the past 7 days or past month for the text message history. Proceed to Step 3 if your request is denied.

Contact your local courthouse and inquire about court orders or subpoenas for releasing cell phone records to the cell phone owner. Laws and regulations may vary from town to town. You will need a reasonable reason to have a court order that Verizon release the messaging history such as possible connection to a crime being committed (such as plans through text), identity theft or fraud through text messaging, or evidence of infidelity in the event of an ongoing divorce case.

Contact Verizon when you obtain a court order. If requested make a copy of the order and send the original to Verizon at the address provided by the representative at the time of the phone call.

Do not delete text messages from your phone's memory until you are certain you no longer need them.

It can be against the law to provide false information when filing for a court order or when demanding records be turned over.

Reference

  1. Verizon Wireless: Contact Information [http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/contact/index.jsp]

Published by Maxwell Payne

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4 Comments

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  • Pamela Gifford7/1/2010

    My sister contacted Verizon for this specific purpose (to prove her ex was harassing her) and they told her they had no such records. She had to start deleting them because of her phone's memory. I knew better but she accepted their answer and gave up. Apparently, whoever was working that day was a lazy bum.

  • Agnes Farside6/20/2010

    I didn't know this..thanks.

  • Sherri Laponsie6/18/2010

    Wow, I didnt even know you could do this!

  • Allana Calhoun6/18/2010

    Good to know!

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