Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!telecom-request From: 76012.300@compuserve.com (76012,300 Brad Hicks) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: 50k Counts of Wire Fraud Message-ID: Date: 6 May 91 20:07:12 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 44 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 337, Message 6 of 9 Is it my imagination, or is wire fraud what the Secret Service charges you with if they don't like you but can't think of anything else? This item comes out of the 04/01/91 issue of {Electronic Mail and Micro Systems} (EMMS), vol. 15, no. 7, pages 23 to 24, Eric Arnum (ed.): "Lastly, a 23-year-old 'entrepreneur' in Manhattan got himself a 540 number -- one of the local Dial-It audiotex lines. He used one of those Demon Dialers that calls a list of telephone numbers in sequence, and programmed it to call local exchanges popular with pagers. He then left an alphanumeric message to call his 540 number. "The system allegedly called 50,000 pagers and got 2,000 'pagees' to call back. And since his audiotex program was $55 a call, he pocketed over $70,000 in profit. Or so he thought. One of the victims [note word choice -- JBH] had a friend in the U.S. Secret Service. The entrepreneur is now facing 50,000 counts of wire fraud." Note that according to Eric Arnum, in this case an "entrepreneur" has "victims". Entrepreneurs don't have victims, they have customers or clients. Only criminals have victims. The only other place I've seen this particular usage was from a Communist Party member complaining about the black market in Moscow. He meant the same thing, too: people paying fair market price for a good or a service they received. I see no lies and no coercion. The people who were charged got what they paid for, a $55 audiotex message. Is there anybody in Manhattan who can afford a pager who doesn't know that 540 numbers are toll calls? If there are two thousand yuppie scum who are stupid enough to return a page to a toll number, and they do this for no reason other than that they were asked to, how can it possibly be illegal or even unethical? (I think Eric Arnum can be reached at either EMMS@mcimail.com or 2735375@mcimail.com; I know that I can be reached preferably at jbhicks@mcimail.com or at 76012.300@compuserve.com.) cc: Eric Arnum Electronic Mail and Micro Systems MCI Mail: 273-5375