Telephony Fraudster Gets Lifetime Ban from Telecom Business

coondoggie passed us another NetworkWorld link, this one discussing the banning of a shady telecom tycoon convicted for 'cramming'. "The owner of three companies that billed more than $30 million in bogus collect call charges, an activity known as cramming, to millions of consumers throughout the country, has been banned forever from all billing on local telephone bills. Willoughby Farr agreed to the lifetime ban as part of a federal court order settling Federal Trade Commission charges that he directed a massive unauthorized billing scam for more than two and a half years. The settlement contains a monetary judgment of $34,547,140, which will be partially satisfied by Farr's transfer to the Commission of all but $7,500 of his frozen assets, the FTC said."

Comments

Market prices

[KublaiKhan]

So what's it cost to set up a 419-scam workshop in a west African country these days? About $7000?

Re:Market prices

[DahGhostfacedFiddlah]

YES IT COSTS US$7000 TO SET UP GUARANTEED MONEY MAKING SCAM. WE WISH TO START SUCH A SCAM. HOWEVER, BY VIRTUE OF OUR POSITION AS CIVIL SERVANTS AND MEMBERS OF THIS PANEL, WE CANNOT ACQUIRE THIS MONEY IN OUR NAMES. I HAVE THEREFORE, BEEN DELEGATED AS A MATTER OF TRUST BY MY COLLEAGUES OF THE PANEL TO LOOK FOR AN OVERSEAS PARTNER INTO WHOSE ACCOUNT WE WOULD TRANSFER THE SUM OF US$21,320,000.00(TWENTY ONE MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS). HENCE WE ARE WRITING YOU THIS LETTER. WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE THE MONEY THUS; 1. 20% FOR THE ACCOUNT OWNER 2. 70% FOR US (THE OFFICIALS) 3. 10% TO BE USED IN SETTLING TAXATION AND ALL LOCAL AND FOREIGN EXPENSES. IT IS FROM THE 70% THAT WE WISH TO COMMENCE THE SCAM.

PLEASE,NOTE THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE AND WE HOPE TO COMMENCE THE TRANSFER LATEST SEVEN (7) BANKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIOM BY TEL/FAX; 234-1-7740449, YOUR COMPANY'S SIGNED, AND STAMPED LETTERHEAD PAPER THE ABOVE INFORMATION WILL ENABLE US WRITE LETTERS OF CLAIM AND JOB DESCRIPTION RESPECTIVELY. THIS WAY WE WILL USE YOUR COMPANY'S NAME TO APPLY FOR PAYMENT AND RE-AWARD THE CONTRACT IN YOUR COMPANY'S NAME.

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THIS BUSINESS WITH YOU AND SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IN THIS TRANSATION. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER USING THE ABOVE TEL/FAX NUMBERS. I WILL SEND YOU DETAILED INFORMATION OF THIS PENDING PROJECT WHEN I HAVE HEARD FROM YOU.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

DR CLEMENT OKON

NOTE; PLEASE QUOTE THIS REFERENCE NUMBER (VE/S/09/99) IN ALL YOUR RESPONSES

That's a fine?

[IronChef]

The settlement contains a monetary judgment of $34,547,140, which will be partially satisfied by Farr's transfer to the Commission of all but $7,500 of his frozen assets, the FTC said.

He billed about $30M in false charges... and it seems like that money is being used to pay the fine.

Please, someone tell me I am wrong.

Re:That's a fine?

[raju1kabir]

Unfortunately, he only had about $700K in assets, so he's really repaying about 2% of it. The rest went up his nose or something.

give me a break

[Anonymous Coward]

So, lets see... If i smoke a joint in some states i go to jail. If i bilk millions of people out of tens of millions of dollars i get.... probation, and a fine.

This is so bs, asswipe(s) should be thrown in jail. Sounds like someone's back got scratched.

How much to the Consumer?

[Farakin]

Why isn't this money being refunded to the consumer? When I read stories like this, and the ones where the FCC levies fines for unacceptable practices I see the consumers that were affected getting screwed. I may be missing something here, but I AM ANGRY!!

Re:How much to the Consumer?

[veganboyjosh]

I checked this out a while ago. My sister spent some time locked up, and I wanted to be able to receive collect calls from her. She tried calling my cell number a few times, but was told the number wouldn't accept them. I never got a call. I called T-Mobile to "activate" a collect call um...authorization/ability/whatever, and was informed that I couldn't accept collect calls on my phone. Even if I wanted to. The CSR told me they didn't have the ability to allow it, due to customers denying collect call charges once they appeared on the bill. I couldn't tell if it was just a policy to turn collect call receiving off to begin with, and with a little pushing they'd allow them, but after 30 minutes of going up their chain of command, and no different answer, I gave up.

I'm sure someone else here knows more about this than me (or the not-so-helpful T-Mobile CSR's.)

Re:Can someone explain?

[spleen_blender]

Because he is a human being who still needs a means to be a productive member of society unless you want him to fall into the shady underbelly of crime as most other people in prison do when they are released.

Whose lifetime, his or the industry's?

[davidwr]

The "Local telephone bill" as an entity probably won't around in another 10 or 20 years.

Either he's turned a new leaf or he's hasn't. If he has, the ban is moot. If he hasn't, he'll find another way to be a crook.

Re:Legal question

[Servo5678]

That depends. Who is your daddy and what does he do?

Why is this legal?

[og_sh0x]

Can someone tell me why it's even legal to put these charges on the phone bill? On more than one occasion I've had to deal with services being crammed this way, and I don't even think it was from this guy, the service that billed me was not mentioned in TFA. Why should we allow this sleaze to continue? Does anyone know of a way to opt out of this, similar to declining long distance and 1-900 calls on your phone?

Wrong prespective

[geekoid]

What he got was fine for the crime. Basically fines of all the money, not allowed to work in the industry.
Punishment fits the crime, and taxes don't go into keeping him in prison.

The problem is that smoking a joint laws are too tough.

Great, who's next?

[TClevenger]

Now can we go after the scumbags that charge eight bucks a minute for collect calls without warning about it?