Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 02:27:17 -0500
From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Dave Leibold)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Bell Canada Card Fraud Woes
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 927, Message 1 of 14

(Bell Canada recently distributed the following in its phone bills ...)

Protect Yourself Against Calling Card Fraud:

Twice in 1992, Bell Canada set temporary restrictions on Calling Card
[tm] calls placed from payphones within its territory. All calling
cards are affected -- those of Canadian, American and international
telephone companies. These temporary restrictions have been imposed in
order to protect the company and innocent customers from growing
calling card fraud.

What you can do:

Fraud, unfortunately, is everybody's problem. Calling Cards, like
credit cards, can be subject to abuse if not properly guarded. There
are a number of ways you can protect yourself againnst fraud:

+ NEVER give your Calling Card to anyone;

+ NEVER reveal your Calling Card number to anyone;

+ make sure no one is looking over your shoulder when you key in your
Calling Card number on a telephone;

+ make sure there's no one close enough to overhear you when you give
your card number verbally to an operator;

+ NEVER give your card number to someone who claims to be a phone
company representative unless you've called *them*;

How to make your calls:

Calling cards can no longer be used as a billing option when placing
long distance calls from payphones in Bell territory to certain
destinations:

+ locations in 809 area code(*) (as of October 30, 1992);

+ overseas (as of April 13, 1992) unless you call from a Millenium
payphone;

In spite of these restrictions, there are still a number of ways you
can place overseas or 809 calls from payphones:

+ use your American Express, Visa, Mastercard or EnRoute card in
Millenium phones (these are the "card swipe" phones);

+ place a person-to-person collect call;

+ bill your call to a validated third number in Canada or the United
States, or

+ place a cash call from a regular payphone.

For further information on Calling Cards, please refer to the terms
and conditions of use you received with your card, or call your local
business office.

(*) Includes Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada,
Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia,
St Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad and
Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands.


Dave Leibold - via FidoNet node 1:250/98
INTERNET: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.FIDONET.ORG


[Moderator's Note:  Well here we go again with the telcos claiming
that 'fraud is everyone's problem ... '  it is NOT everyone's problem;
it is telco's problem. They won't install the technology to eliminate
or help reduce fraud; it is simply easier to discriminate against
large numbers of citizens whose national origin is that of an affected
country. I must say Bell Canada seems to be more open about admitting
what they do; you'll never see AT&T ever put anything in writing about
their illegal and discriminatory practices. Of course I don't know the
law in Canada; maybe Bell Canada is breaking no laws by blocking calls
in this manner. AT&T needs to have the screws turned to them harder
than ever on this issue.    PAT]