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From: "John C. Fowler" <0003513813@mcimail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T Calling Card Discrimination
Message-ID: <10009@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 22 Jul 90 17:08:00 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 506, Message 7 of 10


When I call up one of my credit card customer service lines, they
frequently require that I give them my mother's maiden name, or my ZIP
code, or when was the last time I ate at a restaurant and charged it
to that card, or something else designed to insure that it really is
me calling them and not just somebody who found my card.

How difficult would it be for AT&T to do something like this in
red-lined areas?  An AT&T Calling Card application is rather long and
asks for all sorts of personal information, so they should have no
problems asking something that only the true cardholder would know
off-hand.

Expense would prohibit implementation of this feature everywhere, but
I think customers would prefer it to "Sorry, we won't put your call
through" in areas known for high incidences of fraud.


John C. Fower, 3513813@mcimail.com