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MCI Accused of Long-Distance Call Accounting Fraud
drcobb writes "According to the New York Times, MCI is under investigation again. This time for spoofing SS7 point codes to avoid paying access tariffs.
Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation in the United States and Canada into accusations that MCI, the nation's second-largest long-distance carrier, defrauded other telephone companies of at least hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly a decade, people involved in the inquiry said."
We are going to have a long inquiery followed by a long drawn out process to get the money out of them if found guilty?
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
I can't believe that a conspiracy that large and which touched on interactions with that many other rival carriers could have possibly gone on for a decade unnoticed. Is the biling and routing that automatic or is it just so screwed up that the fraud was lost in the noise?
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
I know this is off topic, but I find it interesting that Slashdot used a Google referer url in it's story. I mean, it's obvious Slashdot isn't Google, and while I'm happy to use the link, I wonder if the NYT will be happy about it, and/or do something about it.. this'll be an interesting one to watch, I guess.
(Maybe Slashdot can become an NYT partner..)
Even though this suspected fraud happened over a decade, it gets me thinking just how much overhead telephone companies have on their calls, there's probably atleast three layers of cream and one for the actual costs on phonecalls.
Of all of the telephone companies that have lied to me while trying to sell me service, MCI was the most boldface lier.
I guess It's not surprising that they tried to cheat their competitors too.
We've never had MCI. Once they called, and told me wife that they were going to give us $20 to make up for all of the long distance phone problems we'd been having. When the verifier comes on the line [to verify that we wanted to switch to MCI], just say yes to all the questions.
I avoid MCI and AT&T. They are both liers.
Kevin
I think this make it official. Working in the telecom industry is now a shameful thing. Kinda like saying you're a used car salesman or something.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
That is nothing.
I had a friend that worked for a company that did cold calls to retailers to distribute sporting goods.
She was taught the following.
She would be given a lead. The lead would have a contact name, address and telephone number on it.
She would call and say:
"I am calling from such and such. You guys ordered a quantity of sports jersey's from us 2 weeks ago. I am very sorry for how late the delivery is, but we seem to have some confusion with your address."
At which point she repeats the address (intentionally screwing it up) to the hapless employee on the other end of the phone.
While she is at it she also 'double checks' the payment and billing information.
She says 'Thank You' and hangs up the phone.
BLAAAAM now how is that for evil?
Now I used to do something that I don't think is nearly as evil as that. I used to work for a Window manufacturer and installer, Appleby Windows. For the most part they were honest. They didn't do scams like I described.
As a matter of fact I was encouraged to purge the schedules of single owner retired people cause it is just too sleazy to send a rep out to people like that.
My job worked something like this.
I had a territory that I was responsible for, say Allentown Pennsylvania.
I had a number of sales reps in that territory. Each rep was promised to have 1 lead a day M-F and 2 on Saturday. So I needed to supply a total of 7 leads a week for each rep.
Now these reps are pure commision. No sale, no eat. So they took those 7 leads dead serious.
Well anyone that has done this sort of work can tell you that crappy appointments are a real problem. Reps get to houses and they are stood up, a homeowner isn't present, it is a rental.. blah, blah, blah. There are a ton of problems that can make the trip out to the house by the rep a waist of time.
To resolve this problem we would have callers intentionaly overbook the schedules. Then I would call each home and 'confirm' the appointment with the homeowner. I was trained to firm up the appointments and to qualify them. If they passed my approval they got put on the schedule for that night.
Well I was required to have a demo rate of 85%. 85% of all my leads had to be saleable, no they didn't have to sell, but the reason they didn't sell must be on the reps end and not mine.
What this all turns into is that in order to give a rep 7 leads a week I actually have to book like 9 or 10. That way he gets 7 leads in spite of 15% of the ones I supply being crappy.
Sorry this is dragging on, but the evil thing I did wouldn't make any sense unless you understood the motivation for it.
So what happens when none of my leads are crappy and they are all good? We end up standing up good, qualified customers who just might buy our product.
So once I decide that everything is cool and I need to blow off the appointments here is what I did:
'Hello Mr Smith?'
'Yeah this is (insert my name) I am calling from Appleby. I am looking for my rep, Fred Wilson. I apologize for disturbing you during your estimate, but this is something of an emergency.'
At this point Mr. Smith's reaction varies. Some people are confused, others pissed - whatever I didn't care.
I try to say the next bit with a combination of relief, concern and if I can muster it just a little bit of distraction, like I am juggling stuff in an emergency situation.
'Oh dear he isn't there?!?! Ummm... I'll tell you what Mr. Smith this might just be good news.
But I need a favor.
Fred's son was just involved in an automobile accident. Apparently he is hurt pretty bad. Fred's wife is hysterical and trying to contact Fred. Fred carries a cell phone and I bet that she contacted Fred after she contacted me.
I can't blame Fred for standing you up, I think I would have to, all things considered.
But Mr. Smith if you could please promise me that if Fred shows up you will tell him just to contact his
Thanks for pointing that out.
It's close. It's too expensive (I mean a BIG, EXTERNALLY POWERED cell phone should cost LESS than a SMALL cell phone with EXOTIC batteries). It also isn't compatible with my current phone and their 2002 copyright and compatibility only with Nokia makes me wonder how they and their product are doing.
But I like it -- it helps confirm to me, that I am not totally crazy.
Thanks!
Concidering we're the largest internet backbone in the world, I think some people might be interested. Especially if they break us up and start selling off the pieces.
:)
I've survived seven layoffs so far. Might as well go for eight
Then why did the Bush government GIVE (without competitive bid) MCI/WC an essentially unlimited contract to rebuild Iraq's communication infastructure....
Having spent US$60 trying to get MCI to shut down a virus infected host that was continually hitting me with multi-hundred kB emails (to no avail), I say, "MCI is in trouble? GOOD!"
The three constituant parts of this hydra (MCI, WCOM, and UUNET) each have a long history of irresponsiblity to the community - an attitude of "Screw you! We are making money any way possible! You No Likee? Suck ME!". UUNET hosting pink contract spammers, MCI screwing other phone companies, the whole WCOM stock deal.
I hope they get nailed. I hope their execs get sent to prison, and through an administrative mistake go to a nice maximum security prison rather than Club Fed, sharing a cell with an AIDS-infected serial sodomist who has nothing better to do than sign up for penis enlargement and Viagra spams. I hope the companies are forced into liquidation. As a resident of Known Space would say, "Break'em up for parts!"
www.eFax.com are spammers
Unless I am mistaken, MCI Sprint, WorldCom and now MCI have been ripping people off right and left, anyway they could, since the beginning (the 80's I think???). They have always been involved in fraud, who has had their service, carefully checked there bill, and NOT discovered getting overcharged for something. What I find shocking is that there are still people that will willingly do business with these folks.
HenryJamesFeltus.com
Nice post, you do cover the scam well.
;) It is like a telecom variation on the movie "Catch me if you can".
I guess one thing I disagree with is the use of MF (or, in North America, usually DTMF to be precise). Not necessary, this is done all the time with ISDN trunks from CLECs (or even ILECs). You get the same effect on a PRI by not providing a CallING Party IE (CallerID in Q.931-speak) in the SETUP message, it will just assign the billing number as CallerID if it is not provided (or if they validate CID and what is provided is not valid for that trunk).
These calling card operators order up PRIs in all the major markets, as if they were a local business user. They bring in the calls via VoIP, then terminate them using their network of local PRIs. The terminating gateways either strip, or fudge to their local directory number, the CallING Party IE. As far as the ILEC (or CLEC for that matter) is concerned, the call is a locally originated call by a legit local business.
Most (all?) of the VoIP termination gear has extensive features to spoof CallerID for this very reason (and for telemarketers, of course). I have even seen folks "randomize" CallerID.
Anyway, did not intend to debunk your explanation, it was quite accurate. Just know that this same concept is done all the time with very simple spoofing in ISDN. ISDN can be obtained very cheaply from any desperate CLEC, is more reliable, shorter connect time (PDD), requires less DSPs in the termination gear (reduces capital costs), and is TRIVIAL to spoof in almost exactly the same way as non-FGD tone-based protocols as you described.
Now that is the US (and Canada, Australia, Western Europe, etc.). I am constantly surprised by the crazy shit they do to get calls into places like India, Bangladesh, Africa, etc.
The only athletic sport I ever mastered was backgammon - Douglas William Jerrold
It doesn't surprise me at all. My testimony before the Nevada PUC regarding manipulating SS7 packets was cancelled last year. Instead, they held it with the lawyers, who argued the packets could not be altered or tampered with. Even after my phone call to them, in which I manipulated the CLID packet, they still ignored the obvious. It took other giants (phone companies, in this case) to finally bring this beast to the public's attention. Now, perhaps, the PUC will also look at what they dismissed with disdain last year.