
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 22, 1994                   TAG: 9411230060
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Short

BELL ATLANTIC CUSTOMERS WARNED OF BOGUS OFFERS

Bell Atlantic Corp. is warning its small- business customers in the mid- Atlantic region of a scam involving companies misrepresenting themselves as being associated with Bell Atlantic.

Bell Atlantic said customers have reported telephone calls from companies whose representatives try to persuade customers to switch long-distance carriers because of pricing changes they claim Bell Atlantic will offer at a future date.

In some cases, the callers have asked for billing codes and other private information.

``Bell Atlantic is not participating in such plans and is not associated with these companies,'' said Mary Vinson, Bell Atlantic's director for external affairs.

Bell Atlantic urges customers who receive such calls to ask the caller for information in writing, or for a telephone number and name of a person at the company. Customers should relay this information to their local Bell Atlantic office.

Bell Atlantic Corp., based in Philadelphia, is the parent company of telephone utilities serving areas of Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

-Associated Press

by CNB