AT&T Charged US Taxpayers $16 Million For Nigerian Fraud Calls

McGruber writes "Bloomberg News is reporting that AT&T got more than $16 million from the U.S. government to run Telecommunications Relay Services, intended to help the hearing- and speech-impaired. However, as many as '95 percent of the calls in AT&T's hearing- impaired program were made by people outside the U.S. attempting to defraud merchants through the use of stolen credit cards, counterfeit checks and money orders.' According to the DoJ, 'AT&T in 2004, after getting complaints from merchants, determined the Internet Protocol addresses of 10 of the top 12 users of the service were abroad, primarily in Lagos, Nigeria.' The DOJ intervened in the whistle-blower lawsuit Lyttle v. AT&T Communications of Pennsylvania, 10-01376, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh). The DOJ is seeking triple damages from AT&T."

Comments

I was getting these calls in 2002

[rickb928]

Back then, it was the Sprint relay service. Callers would want to buy a dozen flat panel monitors, and offer a credit card and U.S. shipping address. Card was usually bogus, but sometimes not. We accepted a few orders but when the card would not approve we just dumped them - and callers would call back to order huge quantities of more expensive gear. We actually started refusing these calls from Sprint outright, got threatened with an ADA suit, and then magically they all stopped. I wonder if Sprint figured it out, or if the clan just moved on. Our defense against the ADA complaint was that we did not do business with foreign customers, no matter the shipping address. Part of this scam was to delay the shipments, dispute the charges, get refunded, and the merchandise is gone. Card goes bad, no one to complain to, and merchants usually have no recourse with the issuer or banks. You're just out the money AND the merchandise. We didn't happen to lose a dollar, but they probably managed to nick someone.

Nice work though, AT&T being the disinterested third party for profit.

Now can we start looking into how the Universal Service Find is being hijacked to try and build the rural Internet where no provider seems willing to do so as in some cases legally required? Noooo... but crony capitalism is flourishing, thanks to the few remaining taxpayers.

Feh.