Merlin's World Protect Yourself from Internet Fraud

It Can't Happen to Me!
Internet Fraud and How to Protect Yourself

It can happen and does!
Even to Merlin's World

Yes, one of our internet telephone lines was "slammed" resulting in a bill for over $500.00 for international calls to Chad. The long distance service provider does not even consider this as fraud or illegal charges since the total bill did not go in to the thousands. The thief is probably well aware of the phone companies policies and is careful to not excessively use one telephone number for massive amounts of calls. The long distance companies are not sympathetic to customers who have been fraudulently charged. Some of the operators we spoke with were just plain rude. To add insult to injury, our phone lines had blocks for "900" service numbers. This did not protect us from the international charges.

There is a new wrinkle in the internet.

A new ability of sites is to charge tolls to your long distance carrier or to execute a program that drops your local internet carrier and dial an international call. Recently, we have become aware of some sites that randomly charge these tolls to unsuspecting internet users (a practice called spamming).

Types of Fraud involving the internet:

Direct Dialed International Calls

There is a small country off the coast of Africa whose main import is international adult entertainment calls. The majority of the population there is employed in this service and they have one of the most advanced phone systems in the world. There are several methods that can be used to access your computer in to these numbers. Recently they have added internet capability to their "list of services".

1. Access through a web site
They advertise for certain x-rated media things as being free. They should warn that there will be a long distance international call made but not all sites will clearly state this. As you browse the web, you can inadvertently stumble on to one of these sites and find yourself connected. Even though you immediately exit, the connection is sometimes not dropped and you can incur huge international tolls.

2. Downloaded programs that access your modem and telephone.

There are a number of programs floating around that will dial these sites if they are clicked on. We are in the process of trying to acquire the names and file sizes of these programs. Again, if the program dials, you will be charged for the international call.

To protect yourself from this type of fraud, do the following:

1. Contact your long distance provider and request an international block.

This prevents a program that downloaded itself to your computer from calling outside of the country to where these calls are generally directed (at rates of up to $6.00 per minute, this can add up quickly). Typically, the long distance provider will do this for free (local service providers can do this also but usually charge a high monthly fee).
2. Get the name of the operator, that persons group (customer service, billing or whatever) and the location that they are in (city).
3. Also note the time and date.
The long distance providers are not good at completing tasks and this information is your defense if a charge shows up on your account.
After a week or so, call back and make sure the block is in place. Again, note all the information.

900 Adult Entertainment Charges

According to our sources, many of the adult sites are offering the ability to charge monthly fees or access fees back to your telephone number. Normally, this is not a problem as they have to have your phone number and usually require e-mail confirmation. However, these things are easily "hacked" and unfortunately too often given out by our children on chat rooms. Warn your children never to give a phone number or e-mail address to someone in a chat room. In addition, there have been numerous cases of unscrupulous site owners randomly charging these service fees to random telephone customers. This procedure has been termed "spamming".
To protect yourself from these types of charges do the following:

1. Contact your local service company and request a block for 900 number tolls and charges.
Again, note all the information and call back after a week to make sure it has been put in place.

Cross Connected Phone Lines

As the number of phone lines per home soars, there are more and more telephone pairs that are inadvertently left active. Each phone line to your home consists of two copper wires for each phone line (hence the term pair). The box at the curb has many pairs of these copper wires. It is possible for a repairman to accidentally hook your phone line into one of these pairs and provide a connection to someone elses home. They have no way of detecting this cross until charges start showing up on your phone bill and you request a line check. Also, it is possible to open the box on the side of your home and plug in a telephone and make calls. The quick service jack that is now routinely provided is the same as the one you find on your wall to plug in the phone. The problem here historically is someone plugging to the connection at the side of your house and making fraudulent long distance calls. However, if the line is cross connected, it is possible that someone could connect a computer to that line and make fraudulent charges on the internet.
To protect yourself:

1. Put a lock on that box on the side of your house.
Even though this was not our problem, the phone operators acted like we were very foolish for not having that box locked up. Be sure to put the key someplace that you will not forget where it is at (this can be embarrassing if you have to call for legitimate telephone service). When we commented that the box was made from plastic and easy to cut through, they informed us "yes, but then it shows signs of tampering".
2. Routinely inspect your long distance charges for anything out of the normal and immediately inform the phone company of suspected fraudulent use.
3. Follow the recommendations concerning 900 service blocking above.

This may seem like a lot of trouble to go to, but after spending hours on the phone with AT&T, the small amount of time to protect yourself is well worth the effort.

In the near future, we will be adding to this page with topics covering other types of internet fraud. Please check back.

Thanks to the folks at the Internet Fraud Watch who spent time on the phone with us and informed us of many of the types of fraud being committed.

We are currently building a mailing list of people who have suffered this type of internet telephone fraud. Maybe if enough of us identify each other and present our case to the federal agencies, we can force the phone companies to address this issue. Please e-mail the details of your problem to:

fraud@merlinsworld.net

Please indicate if you would like the details of your problem posted. We will not release any information to any agency or individual without your consent.

You may also leave a message on our fraud discussion group by clicking on the following link:

Fraud Discussion Group

Article about the problem
Source: Knight Ridder by Northern Light

-Merlin-