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Overseas Crooks Abuse TTY Phone Service
Rick Zeman writes "The Arizona Daily Star is reporting on how 419 scammers and credit card thieves are abusing the US' TTY service which enables hearing-impaired citizens to make phone calls with the help of an intermediary operator. 'The callers try to use stolen credit-card numbers to make big purchases of merchandise from American companies. The operators often suspect fraud, but they can't just hang up. Federal rules require them to make the calls and keep the contents strictly confidential.' Yes, Virginia, they have no shame...."
Anything that's totally given away for free meant to help a certain segment of society should at least seek proof that the person taking advantage of the service is a member of that segment of society.
No government in the USA hands out handcapped parking permits to everyone who asks. There's a documentation process to certify that one is entitled to it. Sure, that process sometimes gets fooled into giving a permit to somebody not entitled to it, but as least there's a paper trail created by such a fraud that can be followed once it is discovered.
Free TTY services be allowed to issue usernames and passwords to their customers, keep text logs of the conversations, and able to revoke the access of those who abuse their accounts. Basically, the laws that are requiring them to be open are also regulating this service to its death. This needs to be fixed quick.
How is this different from the same scammers calling people with the same pitch?
:)
I would be a lot more worried about the idea of an outside party filtering my incoming calls without any control from me.
More specifically, it is hard to have fun with phone salesmen or religious door-knockers once they learn to avoid you.
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This only proves that playing by the rules is not
for everyone, be they terrorists, scammers or
script kiddies.
It takes a lot of work to make something, abuse
or destruction is so much easier.
keep text logs of the conversations
This one doesn't make sense to me. Do the people who issue handicapped parking permits keep a list of the places people park? These conversations are often intensely personal; it's literally the only way some of these people can use a telephone. I agree completely with authentication, but keeping records seems intrusive and demeaning. And if they are kept, sooner or later the deaf will start getting "targeted" TTY advertisements...
"You recently mentioned to your mother that you're thinking of moving. Contact Local Realtors Inc for a free consulation!", etc.
To say nothing of the legal implications; a warrentless wiretap on thousands of American phones, always running, in plain-text, east-to-search format.
Last year I had to track down some carders operating from the US, who were trying to buy products here in Europe with stolen and/or generated credit card numbers. It makes sense to pull that stunt with people (read: jurisdiction) far from your own home...
You know how difficult (and expensive) it is to both track down the people and get a conviction? Laws are made on a national level, institutions such as police and justice departements are also pretty much bound to their specific country (unless you just act as if you own the world), hence international crime has little or no resistance. I mean, why would you care if the crime has been committed elsewhere?...
Same with spam, really. Most spam I receive comes from scumbags on US soil, and it's pretty hard to harm them from here. As opposed to local spammers: a friend of mine once made a real-life visit when he received a spam email from a company not far from where he lives. He didn't get any spam anymore from that company.
That might be a viable solution to the spam problem anyway: just a global team-up of people willing to visit spammers living close to their own home. I'm not implying a violent posse here. Even a criminal would get a clue when there's suddenly a bunch of very pissed off people in front of his/her door.
Here's a simple fix:
Change the TTY/Realy number to a 1-900 numner and charge calls from whereever ther're made. Say $1.00 a minuite.
Then every month - Registered and bonified deaf people can submit a copy of their telephone invoice to the Federal Government and get a refund check for the amount used.
People who abuse the system without being daaf get to pay for it - deaf people get this vital service for free.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
Can't the merchants just require the 3-digit security code on the back of the credit cards , if they're losing money?
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If there's any people who genuinely use the service...sorry, we just can't afford to spend hours wading through these phone calls to get to you.
Thankfully, legitimate deaf people can use the internet to make their orders, a lot quicker I would guess.
Relay companies get paid XX amount of dollars per day, assuming they can meet a certain service level. They have to answer calls queued into their system within a certain period of time. Every call that isn't answered is counted against their running total.
If a relay company falls below a certain percent (it's around 80% or so in a 24 hour period of time), they receive NO MONEY for that day. For the company I worked at, they had 1 day last year where they failed to maintain the standard. The amount of money lost for 1 day? Approaching $3 million according to management.
Anyone saying that business isn't a money making enterprise is full of BS.
Obviously you don't have deaf parents or family like myself. Hanging up on someone just because they are deaf is like parking your car in a handicap spot or being a member of the KKK. This is completely crazy. Some people haven't been given the gift of hearing when they were born or had complications during birth to 3 years old. My dad had Scarlet Fever and because of that he lost his hearing. My mother, they just don't know. I think you guys could handle relay calls a little bit better like have them email you from a friends or family computer.
Sorry for the ranting but this just bothers me since i have been around the deaf community all my life.
First, I think you are right about the accents. Because the scammers are pretending to be Americans (possessing credit cards of Americans) they would have a harder time on the phone, with their accents. Also, the call is free, as best as I can tell. Finally, I think there is the additional degree of anonymity, because there is no call to trace. I can only conclude that these advantages outweigh the unusual nature of the relay call.