Posted: 9/21/2006 6:13:17 PM EDT
We have a phone problem!  Gotcha...huh?  We rec'd our Verizon bill today. In it were 55 unauthorized 3-way calls for which we were charged a total of $39.75. The calls all took place on three days only; 9/1, 9/2, and 9/4. Problem is...we don't have 3-way and we didn't make the calls!  At first we thought it was our nine YO. She's always on the blower with her friends. Then we noticed that the calls were made on Friday and Monday, both school days. We were away on Saturday too...so WTF? Most of the "3-ways" were to businesses. A couple were to individuals. Most were to 1-800 or 1-888 numbers. Most were repeats. I called Verizon customer service and raised the roof. At first the operator told me that the calls had to originate from our number...but I explained that nobody was even here and we don't have the service anyway and she seemed to believe me. The operator then looked them up and we went down the list. Of the 55 calls, there were only about five entities called. We didn't know who the people or businesses were. I had her put a freeze on all 3-way and report this to her supervisor and flag this for future investigation. So...WTF? Have any of you ever had this happen? Are there any IT or phone gurus listening who can enlighten me? Is this a new phone service mob scam? Have we been "hacked" somehow? We are stumped...and NO they were not calls by the seven year old to porn chat sites!  He don't even use the damn phone! |
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Your line may be crossed with another, but I've never seen one that effected billing. I suppose it's entirely possible though. There are other phone guys on here hopefully they'll chime in. ETA: do you have any static at all on your line? Even if it's slight, intermitent or random. |
Nope. The other way around. Clarification: SBC & Bellsouth form partnership in cellular called Cingular. Cingular buys AT&T Wireless. SBC buys AT&T (Ma Bell) and changes name to AT&T. AT&T (formerly SBC) buys Bell South which also gets AT&T full control of Cingular. Simple, huh? |
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Nope, read the sordid details. (above) |
It's possible someone was using a beige box at your house. A beige box is simply a telephone with alligator clips on one end. The perps (aka Phone Phreaks) go to your house and find the phone box on the side of your house.. open it up ..clip on and have fun. I would find the box on the outside of your house and throw a padlock on it. Wikipedia - Beige Box (phreaking) |
Will do, thanks. In the meantime, I'm on the lookout for those black helos too. . I may have to have an unfortunate boating accident if this keeps up.
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it happened to me as well...or something similar at any rate. I received a phone call around midnight. I was in a deep sleep. It was an operator asking if I would accept the charges from "so and so". I mumbled yes thinking it was a collect call. Except after I said yes, the line went dead. I hung up, went back to sleep and thought nothing about it. I got the phone bill a week or so later and discovered many 4 hour long distance calls to the tune of $175. If it's a land line, you'll want to discuss with others in the home whether or not they received just such a call. I was able to dispute mine as the CS person I spoke to was very helpful. He later informed me that all the calls originated in Memphis...even gave me the phone number. They (Frontier Communications) traced the calls back to the scammers, recouped their money, and I had a little bit of fun at "Shaquanda" and "LaDarius's" expense. |
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rob78 brings up an interesting point - it could be third-party billing, and not really three-way callling. Still, you would have had to have been there to accept the charges. It puzzles me as to why someone would have to scam your line to call a toll-free number. That's really bizarre. You said they were actual businesses, though. Not knowing that, I would have suspected that the numbers were Calling-Card switches. It will be interesting to learn the final disposition of this matter. |
I think this may be a clue... Our little one's mother (our DIL) is a societal bottom feeder who has and would steal from us without a single nanosecond of conscience. Even though it has been almost six years since she darkened our doorstep, she knows our number and isn't a dummy. She and her thug friends just may have figured out a way to scam us. Calling card scams...very interesting. They may have called to talk with the kids then stolen whatever it is they can steal. I'll keep an eye out. Thanks... |
