Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Thu, 16 May 91 09:41 PDT From: Ed_Greenberg@3mail.3com.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: 900 Number Fraud on My Line Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu 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 364, Message 9 of 11 Lines: 32 Cliff Helsel writes about finding lots of 900 number calls on his bill, and speculates about a "guy in a trench coat holding a telephone with alligator clips :-) " Actually, it's easier than that, due to the pleasure of multiple wiring. If you take off the wall box in your apartment, you'll probably find a whole rats nest of wires that go through the box, and on to the next apartment. Two of those wires carry your phone line. The others carry the phone lines of other apartments in the building, probably those above and below you. It's not hard for somebody to open the box and explore the other pairs looking for dial tone. If you live in an area with an accessable ANI readback number, that person can identify the numbers and can probably discover which one belongs to which apartment. The miscreant can either choose a line at random and dial away, or take the precaution of verifying that you are not home before treating himself to phone calls at your expense. Note that your neighbor can listen to your phone calls as well. All lineman's test sets have a talk/monitor switch, and any phone can be made to do this as well, by putting a .047 mfd capacitor in series with one side of the line going to the set. The most frustrating thing is that I can't think of a single thing to do about it. Watch your phone bill carefully. edg