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Phone scam exploits service for hearing impaired to swindle local eateriesAug 02, 2009 (Billings Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The recipe calls for a phone line, a tug on the heartstrings and a special service intended for the hearing impaired. When mixed together with a dash of deceit, the ingredients bake into a phone scam that has left several local restaurateurs boiling. "They're tying up our employees, our time and our phone lines," said Mike Sammartino, owner of Bruno's a Taste of Italy. Not to mention, the scam nearly cost the business $500 in lasagna. Bruno's has been targeted by at least 40 of the fraudulent phone calls in the past two months, according to Sammartino. On July 24, Bruno's was hit three times. Speaking in a voice edged with frustration, Sammartino tells how he's called the phone service, the police and even the FBI. "I've been told there's nothing they can do," Sammartino said. "But there are still people falling for it. People need to know this is bad." The basic ruse goes something like this: A restaurant or business receives a call made through a TTY service or Internet Protocol Relay service for the hearing and speech impaired. TTY, which stands for TeleTypewriter, involves a special device that allows a caller with a hearing or speech disability to type in a text conversation, which is relayed to the intended party via a communications assistant. The newer IP relay service functions similarly but uses the Internet. In the case of this scam, the caller uses a computer to simulate the TTY equipment. Calling a restaurant or other place of business, he or she places a large order and provides a credit card number for payment. But there's always a glitch. The caller fabricates some reason for overpaying the business, either a courier service that must be paid in cash, or the scammer places a follow-up call asking to halve the original order. Then, the scammer asks to have the overcharge returned or wired to the fake courier service, often through Western Union. "The bottom line is, they want you to wire money," said Michelle Truax, supervisor at Montana's Office of Consumer Protection. "And once you wire money, it's gone. It could be picked up anywhere in the world." The thing is, businesses receiving the calls want to accommodate the hearing impaired. "That's the part that pulls at the heartstrings," said Randy Holbrook, who works for Heartland Payment Systems, a credit card processing company. Holbrook, who is familiar with similar scams, was updated recently by Sammartino, a friend and client. "It's really unfortunate, because people want to help other people." Even with red flags flying, business owners operate under the impression that they cannot decline calls through TTY or IP relay, nor hang up on the caller. Whether or not the law is codified, the business could find itself subject to an Americans with Disabilities Act complaint, said Connie Phelps, director of the Montana Telecommunications Access Program. "A deaf person could file a complaint that they're not being able to make a call," she explained. It's hard to say how many local establishments have fallen prey to the con. Yet there's no getting around the annoyance factor, not to mention the time and money involved in preparing a large order. David Maplethorpe, executive chef at the Rex, said the restaurant received three of the phony phone calls in mid-July. One of them lasted for 45 minutes. "The lady I talked to was definitely not from this country," Maplethorpe said. "And she was extremely rude. She screamed at me." After skating through the first two calls -- the Rex didn't follow through on the orders for 200 salads -- the third cost the restaurant 50 chicken Portobello mushroom sandwiches. Suspicious, the restaurant had asked for an e-mail address through which it could verify the order. When the Rex received e-mail confirmation, it proceeded to build 50 sandwiches to go. But of course, it was a no-show. At $9.95 a pop, the loss came to nearly $500. Marcy Tatarka, owner of Beyond Basil catering, said the scam has cost her many hours of exasperation. The calls started coming in several months ago, sometimes one every 30 minutes. "They called back continually," she said. "Off and on for over a month. And you can't get off the phone." One scammer ordered sandwiches for 200 people, to be delivered to a location on the other side of Billings. "Ridiculous" could hardly describe the scammer's request that Tatarka wire $700 -- the extra amount supposedly included in the credit card charge -- to a New Jersey shipping company, which was to make the cross-town delivery in Billings. Though Tatarka was hardly duped by the scheme, she wasn't willing to drop the matter. She learned that the go-between operator, who voices the message relayed to her in text, has no latitude for offering words of caution. "She (communications assistant) has to accept it, even if she knows it's fraudulent," Tatarka said. "And they can't give out names. They can only read the screen and they can only type what you say" back to the caller. Because the calls originated from a computer, Tatarka was told there was no way to trace them. Tatarka did learn, however, that two of the credit card numbers she was given were valid. The cards hadn't been stolen, she said, but were being used by unauthorized parties that had no connection to the sanctioned user. Holbrook said scammers are known to use algorithms specifically formulated to generate credit card numbers that have a higher likelihood of working. "The caller cares less about the food or anything ordered," he said. "What it does, it gives the caller a chance to see if the credit card works." As Sammartino pursued the matter, he was told that most of the calls originated from Nigeria. When he asked one of the callers for an e-mail address, he was amazed to see that the address itself blatantly included the words "conjob." While the scheme may be new to the Billings area, the Internet abounds with articles describing similar cons across the nation, many of them dating back several years. Nor is the swindle restricted to restaurants. In the past few months, Truax received a similar report from a dog breeder advertising puppies for sale. A caller using the TTY system sought to buy the whole litter, saying the card would also be used to charge the shipment. The breeder was then to wire the extra cash to the fictitious shipping company. "If it sounds too good to be true, call our office," Truax said. "Ask the hard questions. Why would someone give me more money and trust that I'd send it?" Truax predicts that the scam, like the ones that preceded it, will eventually leave Montana. Once scammers milk an area, they get wise and move on, she said. In the meantime, it's frustrating to those with hearing and speech problems who rely on the service. Char Harasymczuk of Billings is president of the Montana Association of the Deaf. She says the scam has deaf people riled up. She's heard that upward of 90 percent of the calls using the IP Relay or TTY are fraudulent. "And then you have deaf people waiting in the queue for an IP operator when they need to make a legitimate call," she said. Deaf people have always struggled to contact people and this has just added to the problem, she said. It has also cost them legitimate connections to services they need. Some precautions\n To check on the validity of a questionable phone call, contact the Office of Consumer Protection at 406-444-4500 or 800-481-6896. A business can ask for the caller's full name, address and telephone number. They should also ask for the three or four-digit card verification code on the back of the credit card, or ask for the name of the bank on the card. The business could then verify payment with the bank before releasing shipment. To see more of The Billings Gazette or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.billingsgazette.net/. Copyright (c) 2009, Billings Gazette, Mont. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |