Sprint Cracks Down on TTY Relay Abuses

An anonymous reader writes "Sprint thinks it has found a way to keep West African scam artists from using Sprint's deaf-relay service to defraud people." Our previous two stories have background information.

Comments

Problem looks very familiar

[RobertB-DC]

But one former MCI relay operator said blocking internet addresses will only be a temporary obstacle for abusers of the Internet-relay system. That's because the scam artists can continuously find alternative Internet-protocol addresses...

I think every popular web-based service dealt with this issue years ago, including Slashdot. I guess nobody involved in setting up the TTY relay services ever ran a message board?

"Obviously it's had the effect of cutting down these calls, but they're going to find new hosts and call back anyway... It's always going to be a cat-and-mouse game."

Or to put it in the Slash vernacular, a troll-and-moderator game.

Grodevant would prefer a system in which legitimate users register in advance to gain access to the system.

Again, Slashdot provides an example of a solution. Sometimes, you need to be anonymous. But creeps and crooks are among those who prefer anonymity. So you simply flag the calls: "You have a call from a registered TTY user" vs. "You have a call from an Anonymous Coward".

I can see why the telcos didn't put these protections in place from the beginning, though... preying on the disabled is about as low as you can get. The companies simply didn't realize that these bastards have to look up to even see "as low as you can get".

Re:Problem looks very familiar

[Allen Zadr]

I can see why the telcos didn't put these protections in place from the beginning, though...

Remember those pesky laws that guarantee confidentiality of those whom are relegated to using relay services as their only means of communication with non-TTY enabled businesses. Those laws (of course) were written for TTY/vox relay and not Internet/vox relay. That's why the blocking has to be done PRIOR to 'connect'. They'll find open proxies and come from US based addresses soon enough (no disagreement with you there).

Blocking IP addresses? Only a matter of time...

[eaglebtc]

From the article:

===
Sprint spokesman Steve Lunceford, would not detail how Sprint is trying to block the calls other than to say the company is looking at problematic Internet-protocol addresses and finding ways to block them before calls go through to operators.

So far, the effort appears successful. The volume of Internet-relay calls has returned to the level it was in early January, before massive abuse of the system began, Lunceford said.
===

This is only a temporary fix. If they're blocking specific IP addresses, then the scammers will start using proxies. I suppose they could also start blocking anything from a proxy server, but there might be legitimate deaf people using Anonymizer or similar service that would no longer be able to get through.

Is it possible to tell whether a particular HTTP request is coming from a proxy server, without knowing the IP address? Perhaps there is a descriptor in the packet somewhere that says it is going to be forwarded beyond the "apparent" destination?

Re:Blocking IP addresses? Only a matter of time...

[beebware]

I know our web hosting business has had quite a bit of fraud the past few days which has resulted in me finding a big list of 1,700 anonymous/open proxies and then blacklisting them/their IP addresses. Ok - it won't block every single one, but hopefully it'll block the majority/well known ones.

Re:Blocking IP addresses? Only a matter of time...

[cdrudge]

Maybe a deaf person wants to have phone sex. Maybe he wants to be an anonymous whistle blower but can't use just an ordinary pay phone on a street. Who knows. Just because people might not normally have a need to be anonymous doesn't mean that they always won't have a need.

Nigerian fraud.

[Lotharjade]

I guess we will just have the Nigerian fraud to keep us company. Glad that one will never go away. Ive almost come to enjoy seeing emails with it in the message. sigh...

Reduction in fraudulent sales overseas, I hope.

[The I Shing]

I hope we'll be seeing a reduction in scenarios like the Midwestern couple who owns a jewelry store:

Wife: Honey, the deaf Nigerian man is on the phone and he wants another $10,000 worth of raw diamonds. He wants to put the order on five different credit cards.

Husband: Hot-diggidy! Another vacation in Malibu!

Of course...

[Tuxedo Jack]

There's more fun things to do with a TTY operator than just 419 scams.

Phone sex with a TTY operator relaying the action... ho, boy. I just hope that the operator in the middle's an uber-prim-and-proper woman who blushes like mad at the whole thing.

Re:Of course...

[PalmerEldritch42]

Actually, I have done this. A deaf acquaintance of mine used to call me all the time and we would try to see how far we could go before the operator would stop translating. Sometimes, we'd get someone who would enjoy it.. Sometimes, we'd get the uber-prim-and-proper type. Those were by far the most fun.

Why is anonymity an issue?

[Henry Stern]

Whenever I make a telephone call, for whatever purpose, it is associated with my telephone number. Thus, I am accountable for the use of my communications equipment.

Why should it be different for people using TTY services? Provisions for anonymity only allow people to abuse the telephone system.

Re:Why is anonymity an issue?

[Tenebrious1]

Right, the parent is saying why allow such anonymous access? When a non-deaf person makes a phone call, their phone number, the number they called, the duration of the call, all that info is logged. Yet calls through TTY are not.

TTY users should have privacy in their calls, but that does not mean they should have complete anonymity to make such calls. Requiring them to register and login to TTY relay websites isn't any different from the rest of us having to give all our details to the telco to get a phone line. There's privacy in the calls, but not the fact we're making a call and to whom the call is made.

Just in case you have not heard about "419"

[Curly-Locks]

Wonderful scam on scammers: check this out - Ha ha ha ha . Some guy out there is a genius, funniest site in years.

Re:Here's an idea....

[lish2]

You (and a lot of people) are missing a key fact: the relay service is ALSO legitimately used by hearing people to call deaf people. You can't just require everyone who uses the service to "prove you're deaf", or whatever.

hardware based challenge/response system

[pneuma_66]

In the past, anyone who needed to use the tty system had to own a piece of hardware to communicate to the relay, however, now with internet based relay calls, they only need to access a computer hooked up to the net.
I think the requirement for specialized hardware is the key to ending the abuse of the system. My idea would be to use a device, where the relay gives you code, and then you input it into the device, and it spits out a response. This would still keep the calls anonymous, but, would add a level of security to stop the scammers.