Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Tue, 25 Jun 91 14:14:50 GMT From: spencer@med.umich.edu (Spencer W. Thomas) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Explain This Scam Message-ID: Organization: University of Michigan Health Sciences, Ann Arbor 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 491, Message 3 of 8 Lines: 57 Our paper, a few days ago, ran an article titled "Prisoners cheat phone company on costly calls." It attempts to explain a scam that some "guests" of the state are using to make free LD phone calls. I don't understand the purported explanation. Maybe one of you can explain it for me. LANSING -- Some Michigan prison inmates are making unlimited free long-distance calls thanks to a nearly foolproof scam. The practice ultimately could cost consumers thousands of dollars when future phone rates are set by regulators, officials said. Word of the ease with which inmates can make free phone calls has spread quickly. The result? Long waiting lines at some prison pay phones. "It's really a big problem," said Connie Henslee, telecommunications coordinator for the Corrections Department. "It's driving the phone company nuts because it's costing them a lot of money." Although the phone company doesn't know exactly how much the fraud costs, officials estimate one-third of the tool calls that go uncollected in the state can be traced back to prison inmates. Here's how inmates and corrections officials describe the scam: An inmate makes a collect call to a friend whose phone has a three-way calling feature. The friend then pushes a button on the phone and dials the phone company, with the prisoner still on the line. When the phone company comes on the line, the customer is slient as the inmate orders a new phone under a phony name. "We have no way of knowing it's an inmate who has called collect," Michigan Bell spokesman Dean Hovey said. Dan Bolden, deputy corrections director, said he doesn't know how big the problem is, but said even state officials in Lansing offices get calls from inmates using the scam. "It's a constant battle to keep up with those folks," Bolden said. "I've seen a prisoner run up $1,000 phone bills." Spencer W. Thomas HSITN, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 spencer@med.umich.edu 313-747-2778 (8-6 E[SD]T M-F) [Moderator's Note: I suspect they are ordering new service at the address of a confederate on the outside. Then they call collect to 'their' new number; the confederate okays the charges and dials out calls for them to wherever they really want to call. Then when the service gets cut for non-payment, so be it ... order new service! But whatever happened to requiring a deposit and pulling a credit bureau file on the subscriber-applicant? Any other theories? PAT]