Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!gryphon!vector!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: ken@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: A 900 Scam; and Inappropriate Activities by AT&T Message-ID: Date: 25 Nov 89 20:26:23 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Lines: 32 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 532, message 2 of 10 A couple of interesting items appeared in the mail this week: I received a yellow postcard with the words "Gift Notice" in bold letters apparently from a firm called Gift Hot Line in Irving, Texas. The card stated that I was eligible to receive two of the following: $5000 in cash, $2500 in cash, or a $1000 Discount Coupon. All I had to do was call 1-900-988-7654! At least there was fine print: The odds of getting actual cash was 1 in a million. The prizes were not mutually exclusive, so I could expect 2 coupons. The discount coupon had to be used on items in their catalog and each item had a discount limit. If I wanted to use that $1000 coupon towards a single item, I'd have to come up with a bunch of cash. Oh. The phone call cost $3.98. I could _mail_ the card in, but that might take up to 12 weeks before I could get my gift. The second item was a lot less sleazy, but curious just the same. In my United Airlines Mileage Plus statement, their was a small catalog from AT&T. In this catalog were things like coffee pots, musical keyboards, calculators, watches and oh yes, a couple of telephones. The attached note said that AT&T had selected these items out of their Consumer Direct catalog as excellent values. My question is, "What is AT&T doing hawking mail order merchandise?" Me thinks they ought to be thinking about their basic business. Ken Jongsma ken@cup.portal.com