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TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:12:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 371
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Meet ZoTob; New Worm; Busy Attacking Windows Vulnerabilities (Jack Germain)
Cell Phone Customers Held Captive By Early Cancel Fees (Consumer Affairs)
Florida Court Bars Comcast From Enforcing Agreement (Consumer Affairs)
Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (John McHarry)
Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s (NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info)
Re: Telephone Exchange Useage in Low Volume Areas (John Levine)
Re: Telephone Exchange Useage in Low Volume Areas (John McHarry)
Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (John McHarry)
Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (John McHarry)
Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Jim Haynes)
Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (David LaRue)
Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Steve Sobol)
Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Fred Atkinson)
Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (mc)
Re: Last Laugh! Another Huge Money Making Idea!!! (Steven Lichter)
Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are
included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address-
included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article
herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the
email.
===========================
Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be
sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters,
viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome.
We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime. Geoffrey Welsh
===========================
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jack M. Germain <newsfactor@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Meet ZoTob; New Worm; Busy Attacking Windows Vulnerabilities
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:02:28 -0500
Jack M. Germain, newsfactor.com
Finish antivirus firm F-Secure found a new worm on Sunday that attacks
the Windows Plug-N-Play vulnerability that Microsoft patched last
Tuesday. The security firm's researchers said the worm, which they
named ZoTob, poses the biggest risk to users running Windows 2000.
Industry researchers began seeing exploit code for the critical
Microsoft vulnerability showing up on various hacking Web sites on
Friday. According to F-Secure's Web site, Zotob began spreading as
early 7:30 a.m. EST Sunday morning.
Mikko Hyppnen, director of antivirus research for F-Secure, wrote that
the new worm is based on MyTob, a mass-mailing virus that opens a back
door and lowers security settings on compromised machines.
Hyppnen noted that the ZoTob worm might be using exploit code
published by a researcher known as "houseofdabus" four days ago. ZoTob
is the first major self-propagating program since the Sasser worm --
which began spreading April 30, 2004 -- to target a Microsoft Windows
vulnerability.
F-Secure researchers also announced their discovery of two variants of
the ZoTob worm. Each one gives hackers access to unpatched computers
and shares several similarities with the earlier MyTob worm.
Windows XP Users Safe
According to F-Secure researchers and other antivirus companies, ZoTob
has no affect on computers running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or
Windows Server 2003. Thus, the ZoTob worm should not spread as quickly
as Sasser did.
According to researchers, Microsoft confirmed that ZoTob only infects
Windows 2000 systems. Redmond said that any Windows XP system that
applied the updated patches released last Tuesday would be safe.
Other antivirus researchers, however, say unpatched vulnerabilities in
other Windows platforms -- Windows 95, 98 and ME -- could be at risk.
Attack Scenario
Antivirus firm Trend Micro (Nasdaq: TMIC - news) said the ZoTob worm
places a copy of itself into the Windows system folder as botzor.exe
modifies the system's host file in the infected computer, preventing
the user from getting online assistance from antivirus Web sites.
According to the Internet Storm Center, which monitors network threats
for the SANS Institute, the ZoTob worm compromises computers by
sending data on TCP port 445. The worm uses the infected computer as a
file transfer protocol (FTP) server in an effort to propagate itself.
F-Secure's Hyppnen said that researchers found a message hidden inside
the virus code warning death to the first to discover the worm. That
message said, "MSG to avs: the first av who detect this worm will be
the first killed in the next 24hours!!!"
Although ZoTob appears to be a failed attack, David Perry, Trend
Micro's Director of Global Education, recommends that all users remain
vigilant.
"ZoTob. A utilizes modular programming, which is considered a
mainstream programming technique, and has been in wide use since
MyDoom.A in January, 2004," said Perry. "ZoTob.A carries on in that
tradition, utilizing a module of the MyTob family of worms, called
'HELLBOT.' Therefore, it is certainly possible that further variants
will be forthcoming."
ZoTob/Botzor.exe is expected to be quite active searching out Windows 2000
systems during this week, August 15-20.
Copyright 2005 NewsFactor Network, Inc.
NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the
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understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic
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believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish
to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go
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For more information go to:
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------------------------------
From: Consumer Affairs.org <consumer@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Cell Phone Customers Held Captive by Termination Fees
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:16:13 -0500
Nearly half of U.S. cell phone customers would switch or consider
switching cell phone service carriers to get a lower rate and better
service if they didn't have to pay an average penalty of $170 to cancel
their service contract, according to a new economic analysis and survey
released today by U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group).
"Consumers are captives locked in a cell by early termination fees
preventing them from shopping for better or cheaper cell phone
service," said Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Consumer Program
Director. "No cell phone company has to honor its promises if its
customers can't afford to shop around because of unfair penalties."
The report's release coincides with a review by the Federal
Communications Commission, of a petition from the cell phone industry
that, if granted, could preempt, or eliminate, state oversight of Early
Termination Fees.
The fees range from $150 - $240 depending on the company. The report
also follows last week's Nextel/Sprint merger approval, leaving just
four companies to provide more than 80 percent of the cell phone
service in the U.S.
The report is a follow-up to a March 2005 MASSPIRG report: "Can You
Hear Us Now." That survey of 874 Massachusetts cell phone customers
found that 42 percent of consumers reported having a billing problem
with their provider and 68 percent reported dropped calls and other
quality problems.
"Not only does this new survey find that more than three out of four
Americans want these unfair fees eliminated, but our economic analysis
also shows that when you combine the penalties some consumers have
paid with the benefits others have lost or can't afford, these
penalties have cost consumers more than $4.6 billion in the last three
years," said Mierzwinski.
The new report, "Locked in a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Termination
Fees Hurt Consumers" includes analysis of a phone survey conducted by
the polling firm IPSOS North America of 1000 U.S. households in July
2005. Key findings include:
. Nearly half (47 percent) of cell phone customers would "switch
cell phone companies as soon as possible" or "consider switching cell
phone companies" if early termination fees were eliminated.
. More than one out of three (36 percent) of the respondents
replied that the early termination fee had prevented them from
switching.
. Nearly 9 out of 10 (89 percent) of the consumers agreed that the
early termination fee is "a penalty to discourage switching cell phone
companies".
. Combining the actual costs incurred by the 10 percent of
consumers who switched in the past three years ($2.5 billion) with the
potential benefits others have lost or can't afford ($2 billion), cell
phone early termination fees cost consumers more than $4.6 billion from
2002 to 2004.
. More than three out of four (77 percent) of the consumers
either strongly support (57 percent) or support (20 percent)
elimination of the early termination penalties.
In response to consumer lawsuits in several states, including
California, Florida and Illinois, challenging these early termination
fees as unfair, US PIRG says the cell phone industry has petitioned
the FCC to treat ETFs not as penalties designed to restrict consumer
choice, but as a part of the rates that the companies charge their
customers for cell phone.
"If the FCC were to grant the industry's petition, then the cell phone
industry would try to have state laws inappropriately preempted from
applying to early termination penalties," said Mierzwinski. "In short,
the wireless companies want to stifle competition rather than compete
for the customer's business."
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and 14 other members of Congress sent
a joint letter today to FCC members saying they "strongly urge you to
deny" the petition and "urge you not to take any action that would
preclude states from enforcing their own laws to protect consumers
from unfair and anti-competitive business practices."
Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc.
NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the
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owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without
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believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
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to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go
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For more information go to:
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------------------------------
From: Consumer Affairs <consumer@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Florida Court Bars Comcast From Enforcing Customer Agreements
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:18:02 -0500
A Florida court has upheld cable TV subscribers' rights by barring
cable giant Comcast from unilaterally changing subscriber agreements by
requiring customers to submit to binding arbitration.
The Florida First District Court of Appeal upheld a trial court
decision, clearing the way for certification of a class action suit
filed against AT&T Broadband, purchased by Comcast in 2001.
The class action suit was filed on behalf of then-AT&T cable TV
customers throughout Florida and Georgia for breach of contract,
unjust enrichment and fraud related to customer service and billing
problems.
Prior to the filing of this class action suit, AT&T had adopted the
practice of sending out a fine print notice as an insert in customer
bills that attempted to essentially eliminate subscriber's rights
against the cable company.
In addition to eliminating the right to bring a claim in court, the
provision shortened the statue of limitations, prohibited class
actions, imposed a confidentiality agreement, and prohibited punitive
damages. This was a take-it-or-leave-it policy that gave consumers no
option except to cancel service.
After the class action suit was filed, AT&T petitioned the Fourth
Circuit Court of Duval County, asking Judge L. Haldane Taylor to stop
the suit based on the position that all customers were subject to
binding arbitration and therefore had no right to participate in a
class action suit.
On September 30, 2004, Judge Taylor wrote in his ruling that this
policy by AT&T was "procedurally and substantively unconscionable
... it was presented on a take- it-or-leave-it basis and provisions
unilaterally benefited AT&T."
"The arrogance of these companies reminds me of big tobacco," said
attorney Norwood "Woody" Wilner, whose landmark tobacco case Carter v.
Brown & Williamson resulted in the loss of $14 billion to tobacco
stocks in one single day.
Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc.
NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the
use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without
profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the
understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic
issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I
believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish
to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go
beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner, in this instance, ConsumerAffairs.com
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
------------------------------
From: John McHarry <jmcharry@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company?
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:37:27 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:10:43 +0000, Steven Lichter wrote:
> I believe the equipment manufacturing division moved to Florida and is
> part of General Dynamics.
They are in Florida, and I think part of Siemens, or they were a while
back. They were a fairly big supplier to independent telcos, and one
of the few to make the transition to digital switching. Their DCO
competed quite well with Northern Telecom's DMS-10 and smaller
DMS-100s.
------------------------------
From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info
Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s
Date: 16 Aug 2005 13:42:53 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com
I am in NYC with 3 residential lines with hunt at no charge.
I use OneSuite on all of them with detailed billing from OS on each
line.
Incredibly low long distance phone rates. As low as USA-Canada 1.9CPM!
Works as prepaid phone card. PIN not needed for calls from home or cell
phone. Compare the rates at https://www.OneSuite.com/ No monthly fee or
minimum. Use Promotion/SuiteTreat Code: FREEoffer23 for FREE time
------------------------------
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA
> reduced per month rate, but I believe private line service is pretty
> much available in all but the most remote areas now.
Make that all areas. SLCs and the like made party lines obsolete.
>> 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by
>> community dial offices?
> I'd say off the top of my head probably not. When CDO's were all
> step-by-step offices dialing patterns as little as three digits were
> available determined by the number of subscribers and optionally could
> be dialed with all seven numbers with the first few digits "absorbed"
> for local callers. When ESS came into being that all ended.
Electronic switches can handle any dialing plan you can think up. But
I believe that by policy it's all 7D or 10D and 1+10D in the PSTN now,
since anything else would be too confusing.
R's,
John
------------------------------
From: John McHarry <jmcharry@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:32:43 GMT
On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:40:56 -0700, hancock4 wrote:
> In many places in the U.S. the demand for telephone exchanges is very
> high for a variety reasons. This has result in area code splits and
> overlays. NJ started off with one area code and now has nine.
> But some states still only have one area code. I understand some
> states are not growing very fast in population, indeed, some rural
> towns are losing population. This includes: Alaska, Idaho, Montanna,
> North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (Not counting some other
> single-code states).
> Given the rural/low growth aspect of places in some of these states, I
> was wondering if telephone service may still have some old fashioned
> features to it. For example, would such areas have:
> 1) Traditional party line service, since it's not worth the cost to
> upgrade lines out to people's farms?
In almost all places single party lines have been cheaper for the
telco for decades. Where they have been forced to continue to offer
party line service, they have used bridges at the CO, not in the
field. The forcing comes when they go to the PUC and tell them party
lines cost more, and the PUC replies go to all single party lines at
the party line rate. I think they have mostly managed to buy off the
PUCs.
> 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by
> community dial offices?
Five digit dialing was a feature of old panel switches which could be
set up to throw out the first two digits if the local exchange was
being dialed, and use them otherwise. My old hometown had one of those
for a long time.
> I believe everything is ESS nowadays, but that pays for itself by
> eliminating the need for technicians to visit remote unattended
> switches. Probably some community dial offices have been converted to
> concentrators or feeders to a larger CO elsewhere.
There are certainly CDOs still around in the boondocks. Many of those
old brick windowless boxes have a pad out back with a fiberglass hut
mounted on it. Likely that contains a DMS-10 or DCO. Those are small
ESS systems that can serve several thousand lines.
------------------------------
From: John McHarry <jmcharry@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be?
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:21:12 GMT
On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:29:07 +0000, Phil McKerracher wrote:
> John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> wrote in message
> news:telecom24.366.5@telecom-digest.org:
>> I think the limit is about 18,000 feet. Then you might have trouble
>> carrying DSL over it ...
> Correct, but that's the approximate limit for the total length from
> the switch to the telephone. Beyond that, the signal is typically
> attenuated too much, mainly by cable resistance, and gets buried in
> noise.
> As someone else has pointed out, you need decent cable, routed clear
> of sources of interference (such as power cables and cordless phones),
> otherwise interference will be a bigger problem than loss of signal.
If it gets too long, you might have trouble with ring trip. For that,
add another battery to boost the loop current. Also, be sure to use
twisted pair to preserve longitudinal balance.
If even that doesn't do it, I have heard of interfacing to magneto
sets on distant parts of military reservations. I don't know much more
about that than that the people who made it work reported to me at the
time. They were a small group of mostly geezers who could interface
anything to anything, so that is what they did.
------------------------------
From: John McHarry <jmcharry@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:11:41 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
I am pretty out of date on this, but, last I knew, banks were liable
for processing checks that didn't bear a reasonable facsimile of the
signature on file against the account. Since the golden rule, in the
sense of he who has the gold, prevails, it has been held that if the
signature is the same name that is on the account card, it is close
enough. For that reason, I have always had my name printed differently
on checks than is on the card. Whether that is of any use today, I
have had the pleasure of not finding out, although I noticed a few
years ago a check I hadn't signed at all went through quite
nicely. Since it was for some sort of utility bill and was correct, I
just winked as well.
Like PAT, I write very few paper checks these days. I moved across
state lines over three years ago and have never had new ones
printed. Since all I have used them for is to pay for services already
rendered, it hasn't been a problem. I would guess it would be hard to
get cigarettes and cash back with one, however.
It wouldn't surprise me to see paper checks go away. Even point of
sale debit cards are more secure, and we are all being charged the
skim off for credit cards whether we use them or not.
Looks like a bull market for wire fraud! I had a rather large ACH
transfer executed in the wrong direction a while back. The company
that screwed it up managed to straighten it out, but the bank that was
supposed to receive funds, and instead disbursed them, didn't do
squat. Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting
those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief
Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu
Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni
From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes)
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:48:11 GMT
I just finished reading a book "The Old Chicago Neighborhood" with
pictures and memoirs by people who grew up in Chicago mostly in the
1940s. Some of the common threads in many of the memoirs are:
Your neighborhood was like a small town -- you did all your shopping and
school and church and recreation in your own neighborhood, and everybody
knew everybody. You might go downtown for shopping once or twice a year,
but ordinarily you never left the neighborhood.
Kids had a lot of freedom. They could go to the park from dawn to
well after dark and parents didn't worry about them.
Some of this was because of the 1930s depression followed by World War
II. It was safe to play in the streets because there was little car
traffic because of wartime gasoline rationing. Many people who had
cars got rid of them or put them in storage during the war.
jhhaynes at earthlink dot net
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And Independence downtown still has the
semblance of the 1930-50's era. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:57:18 EDT
From: David LaRue <Huey.DLL@GTE.Net>
Subject: Re: Your exiting weekend
Reply-To: David LaRue <Huey.DLL@GTE.Net>
Hello Patrick,
My it is a small world, isn't it? I'm a 40-something year old
computer geek that immediately recognized the big town of
Independence. My parents grew up between Neosha and Chanute. I'll
call my mom after bit and call the rest of the family down in Chanute.
I live south of Tampa, Florida now. I was last through your little
town last summer with my mom to return home to see family and attend a
cousin's wedding.
Thank you for sharing your exiting weekend with us in the telecom
group and letting those of us who still remember the joys that small
Kanasas towns have to offer.
David
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite welcome; I guess Independence
is the 'big town' compared to the other places you named, which are
smaller and more rural. I know on Friday and Saturday night, a lot of
rural people come through town to the Independence Cinema and also to
see the high school basketball/football games, etc. Do you remember
about one year ago when the New York Times ran the full page story
about Independence, calling us the 'magical town in southeast Kansas'?
It seems a lady and her husband were traveling from the west coast
back to New York, and on much of the trip came through Kansas on
Highway 169. She said they decided to stop overnight here, staying at
a motel (I think it was the Appletree Inn downtown). She was rather
amazed at how little their room cost, and instead of hitting the road
early the next morning, decided to look all over town, and was 'just
delighted' at things like our real-genuine drug store downtown with an
actual soda fountain/lunch counter; all the stores downtown lined up
one after another on Penn Street, etc, all very 1930 to 50-ish; our
radio station, our daily newspaper, etc and perhaps some will be
impresed, our _very tiny_ by comparison (perhaps fifty page) telephone
directory from Southwestern Bell.
My nephew Justin went back to Orlando just several days ago, and I
recall him one day asking me, "Can I look something up in the phone
book?" I handed him the directory, which resembles an early issue of
_Readers Digest_ (that size and shape, about fifty pages with a staple
in the side binder.) Poor Justin, his eyes bulged out of his head as
he said, "Is that the WHOLE phone book?" He saw SBC's name and logo
on the front cover, along with admonitions to use 911 in emergency and
he marveled saying "our phone book in Orlando is much larger." I told
him so is the phone book for Manhattan or Chicago. I told him not only
is it Independence listings, but all the listings for the six southern-
most counties in Kansas. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:49:43 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com
TELECOM Digest Editor wrote:
> And that was my weekend, how was yours?
Interesting -- drove home from Palmdale, CA to Apple Valley, CA in a pounding
rainstorm, with many of our fine desert roads flooded out, but I can't
figure out how to make that story on-topic for this newsgroup. :D
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On topic? Not a problem. I suppose if
many roads were flooded out, chances are likely some phone lines were
down also. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com>
Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:58:02 -0400
Pat,
I know exactly how you feel.
Quite a few years back, someone got hold of two books of my checks. I
still don't know how they got them as there was never any sign of forced
entry into my apartment, also several of my good suits disappeared at the
same time.
I was in SC visiting my relatives when I tried to withdraw some money
from an ATM. It said there was no money in my account. I couldn't
believe that.
I called the credit union and asked them what was going on. They
asked me what where all of these two, three, and four hundred dollar
checks that were being drawn on my account. She got copies of the
checks and read the information on them to me. I had no recollection
of writing them. I asked her what the designs were on the checks.
She said they were airplanes, which practically confirmed that they
were indeed mine as I was using a style of checks that had pictures of
antique airplanes (like the Ford Trimotor and other classic now
antique aircraft). They were a special issue that a check company I
was using was offering for a short time.
She compared the signatures on the checks with my signature card on
file. She said that in her humble opinion, the signatures were
clearly not mine. I had to fax an order to block my checking account
altogether to protect myself further. I also called the Montgomery
County police (I was in SC) and made a police report by telephone.
When I got back to Washington, I had to go by the credit union and look
at those checks to determine which ones were legitimate and which ones
weren't. The credit union sent the fraudulent ones back to the payees and
recovered all of my money.
I opened an account at a local bank and had managed to stop direct
deposit on my credit union account before my next payday. They
expedited my checks when I told them about my situation at the credit
union.
The letters from the collection agencies started arriving. I sent
them a form letter I had typed up. They all demanded copies of the
police report, which I didn't have in hand since I'd made the report
by telephone while I was out of town. So, I sent the county police a
letter and a five dollar check they required to send me a copy of the
report.
They were slow about it. In fact, the collection agencies were
getting so nasty with me that finally I told the boss I'd be in late
the next morning and stopped at the county police office and insisted
on getting a copy of that report as those collection people were
hounding me to death. They charged me another five dollars, of
course. But I walked out with the police report in hand.
I made copies of it and sent them to all of those collection agencies.
One by one, I began to get letters from them telling me they had
purged the collection reports from their files, all except one. That
was the notorious Equifax Services. I wrote them another letter, but
they didn't seem to care. They kept sending me letters demanding
payment or legal action would be taken (despite the fact that they
already had the police report in hand).
Fortunately, the county bar association had a service whereby you
could consult with an attorney for forty minutes for seventy-five
dollars. They refered me to a Maryland bar member who happened to
have an office in Washington just a few blocks from where I worked.
He assured me that I wasn't liable and that these people were just
blowing smoke. He suggested I write them another letter and told me
basically what to say.
I was always very good at writing letters demanding change. In fact,
some of the stories I could tell you about my letter writing would
curl your hair considering the results they got. So, I wrote it up
and included the legal phrases he suggested I used. For good measure,
I sent it via certified mail so they wouldn't be able to say they
didn't get it. Most companies are a little intimidated by certified
mail because they believe you are probably getting ready to go legal
when you start doing that, or at least that's been my experience.
My letter was strongly worded and I cautioned them that this would be
the last letter I sent them before I had my attorney contact them on
this matter. I pointed out that I had already filled out and sent
them the fraud form they asked me to fill out and attach the police
report to. I used the 'cease and desist at once' phrase and told them
there was another copy of the police report attached for their
'convenience'. I told them I'd hold them criminally responsible and
civilly liable if they had done anything to damage my credit rating.
They took it very seriously. I got a letter from them telling me that
they had purged all of the fradulent checks from my files and that I
had not been reported to any of the credit bureaus and that I wouldn't
hear from them on the matter again.
I had gotten a few phone calls from some of the merchants who had
cashed those fraudulent checks. Whomever the perpetrator was had a
passport and a DC driver's license with my name on it. The passport
number was not my passport number. And up to that time, my area
driver's license was issued in Maryland. I later had a Virginia
license for a time. But to this day, I never had a DC driver's
license.
Safeway was one of the companies that had taken some of the checks.
They told me that the norm these days was to steal checks and then
make fake ID so they could cash them. So, they weren't terribly
surprised.
I had filed a claim with my renter's insurance about the missing suits
that disappeared about the time that my checks had apparently been
taken. They denied the claim because there was no sign of forced
entry into my apartment (the stolen checks that were passed at about
the same time those suits disappeared didn't seem to make any
difference). I later trashed them and went with another insurance
company, not only for that but for other problems I'd had with them
(never returning my phone calls, demanding I take time out from my job
to go to DMV to get a copy of my driving recording and bringing it in
in person just to get a quote for auto insurance, which none of the
other insurance companies required you to do).
There is no experience like getting all of those threatening letters
and phone calls from all of those collection agencies. They practically
impune your self-esteem on a daily basis. And though you sent them
the letter advising them that the checks were stolen and that you were
getting a copy of the police report to send them, they just keep
demanding payment and claim that you weren't responding to the letters
they sent you. However, Eleanor Roosevelt said it best.
But I found that since I was using checks with a different account
number that no one was giving me any trouble about cashing my new
checks. I later went back to the credit union and got another account
number altogether. I never got any static about those checks either.
I'm sure my old account number was flagged by all of the check
clearing houses that the merchants use to verify your checks are good.
I would advise anyone that has been the victim of identity theft to
change the affected account numbers immediately and stop using the old
accounts. Then you shouldn't get any static when you cash checks or
use your credit cards again.
Of course, the perpetrator was never caught. All that trouble he
caused me and he skated.
Fred Atkinson
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, this bird did not get any of my
credit or debit cards, or other ID; just a carton box of the kind that
checks are sent in from the check printing company. And Timothy Garotte
was caught. It was in the Independence Daily Reporter today. I watched
eagerly for my paper to show up this afternoon, and there it was on
page 2, where they put the Police Activity column each day:
"Timothy S. Garotte, 34, of 1628 North 9th Street, Independence,
was arrested Monday afternoon for the alleged theft of checks
from a residence in the 600 block of East Poplar Street in
Independence, according to Police Officer John Edwards."
PAT]
------------------------------
From: mc <mc_no_spam@uga.edu>
Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:33:34 -0400
*chuckle* Look up "garotte" in the dictionary.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Websters Unabridged says it is a
Spanish word meaning to strangle someone by a device around the
person's neck which continually gets tighter and tighter as the
screws holding it together are turned in place. Sounds like an
awful way to die, IMO, but perhaps our next correspondent in this
issue of the Digest will volunteer to be the executioner. Take it
away, Steve ..... PAT]
------------------------------
From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Another Huge Money Making Idea!!!
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:12:45 GMT
Steven Lichter wrote:
> This guys says you can make thousands in just hours. His his number
> is 800-667-2497, E-mail is greg@gettingpaid.com. There is a
> conferance call number: 512-305-4663, Pin: 228862#, plus his home
> phone is 530-209-4956.
> The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
> (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.
It should be greg@gettingpaidtoday.com, bad typing on my part.
The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.
------------------------------
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