THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609160209
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 183 lines
Judy Farmer couldn't believe her eyes when she received a $1,000 phone bill last month with a long list of sex chat line numbers.
Her shock was not so much that her 17-year-old mentally disabled son had made those types of calls - he'd done it before to the tune of $500 - but that blocks she put on her telephone a year ago didn't prevent a repeat performance.
Farmer soon learned that she was one of thousands of phone customers who have felt scammed by dial-a-porn companies. The National Consumer League, telephone companies and federal agencies are reporting a wave of customer complaints as operators of horoscope, psychic and sex lines drop 900 numbers in favor of international numbers. The switch was in response to 1993 U.S. regulations that require full disclosure of pay-per-call costs.
Farmer's 22-page bill reveals that most of the numbers are international calls to places like the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Sao Tome, an island off the west coast of Africa. None of them have the familiar 900 prefix that usually signals a pay-per-call number. But the charges are heart-stopping: $93 for a 19-minute call, $44 for a 13-minute call, $34 for a seven-minute call.
``I was assured that these blocks would take care of the problem,'' said Farmer, who is disputing the charges.
The Federal Communications Commission alone has received more than 10,000 consumer complaints during the last three years about such calls. The international numbers circumvent U.S. regulations that require a company to first reveal how much the call will cost and also give the caller a chance to hang up before the charges kick in.
The overseas numbers also bypass 900 blocks that parents put on their phones. In some cases, companies are using 800 or local numbers that refer callers to the costly overseas numbers.
``A lot of people are losing money and they are feeling like they've been duped,'' said Cleo Manuel, director of public information for the National Consumer League in Washington. ``It's a huge issue because people who feel they have safeguarded themselves are finding out there's a way around the blocks.''
The other factor that often fools phone customers is that some of the international numbers don't require a customer to dial the international code ``011,'' making it look like a regular long-distance call instead of an overseas call. Other numbers may start with an 800 number, but then ask callers to punch in additional numbers that end up transferring them overseas.
Many of the numbers Farmer is contesting have an 809 area code, which is the code for the Caribbean, including the city where one of the calls landed, Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. ``Hi and welcome,'' says a sultry voice on a recording that answers one of the numbers. ``You've called the hot new line where everyone is tuning in and turning on. Because of the mature topics discussed on this line, you must be over 18. If you're not, hang up now. This gig is definitely for adults only.''
The international number problem has popped up in several different forms, not just with chat lines, but also with fraudulent work-from-home advertisements and pager numbers that ask the beeper owner to dial a number that looks like a regular long-distance or toll-free number, but that turns out to be an overseas number with exorbitant charges attached.
What's happening, according to industry experts, is that foreign phone companies are cutting deals with dial-a-porn and psychic-line companies to boost their revenue from overseas calls. The phone companies, in turn, share part of that revenue with the phone sex operators, so everyone makes out on the deal.
Everyone, that is, except the person who gets an eye-popping bill.
Tyler Gronbach, spokesman for LCI International, the long-distance carrier that Farmer was using, said they have received similar complaints over the past year from parents. LCI investigates each contested bill on a case-by-case basis. ``If it's a call that someone dialed accidentally, we can sometimes give them a credit, but if there's a series of calls it needs to be evaluated individually,'' he said.
Farmer said the phone company told her that her son probably got the numbers off late-night television shows, and may have either dialed the numbers directly or been referred to overseas numbers from local or 800 numbers.
``I know there are more parents out there who have a false sense of security with these blocks,'' Farmer said. ``Every time the phone company figures out a way to protect us, someone else finds a way around it.''
Farmer has asked LCI International to drop the charges, and also complained to Bell Atlantic, who put the blocks on her phone.
Neither company has offered to credit her bill.
``When we offer the block for 900 calls, we do not guarantee it will prevent all pay-per-call charges, because companies are very creative in finding ways around the block,'' said Paul Miller, who works for Bell Atlantic media relations.
While Bell Atlantic and other phone companies have tried to educate customers on telephone scams, phone-sex companies keep coming up with new schemes to bypass the solutions.
Attempts to reach the operators of the sex-line companies by calling the numbers on Farmer's bill resulted in a circuit of recorded responses. The Federal Communications Commission also has had difficulty tracking down the companies.
Parents who have had the same problem as Farmer have a couple of options to prevent the international calls, according to Miller.
They can put a block on all toll calls, which carries a one-time $10 fee, and then $1.50 a month. Another type of block restricts long-distance numbers but allows customers to dial 800 numbers. That block costs $10 for installation and $2 a month after that. He said customers can also have a lock put on the telephone. However, that option could leave a person without a key no way of calling for help in an emergency.
A service Bell Atlantic just began offering to its Virginia customers this year - Call Gate - allows the customer to block specific numbers, an entire area code such as 809, or all international calls, for $5 a month.
GTE also has a block service for long-distance calls, which costs $1.50 a month, but has no installation fee.
Consumer experts say education offers the best protection, however.
``There's no fail-proof way to prevent someone in your home from making these calls,'' said Lee Ann Kuster, public relations director for AT&T. ``These sex lines and horoscope lines exist to stimulate telephone traffic and revenue. The best thing you can do is educate your children not to make this type of call.''
While some companies simply skirt the law by using international numbers, others are operating fraudulently by routing calls from local or 800 numbers to pay-per-call lines.
Customers can dispute the bill with their telephone companies and also file complaints with federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission or the Federal Trade Commission if they feel the company is fraudulent.
The FCC last month adopted a regulation that prohibits charging callers to toll-free numbers for information services unless the caller agrees in writing to be charged. The agency is also proposing another regulation that will provide the same kind of protection for callers to international numbers.
Until that's passed, however, international numbers that are directly dialed by the caller require the buyer to beware. That's why consumer education is considered most important in battling international dial-a-porn numbers.
``Those numbers are fair game,'' said Allen Hile, FTC assistant director for marketing. ``Even though the phone rates are much higher than what you'd expect.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
TELEPHONE CUSTOMER: BEWARE
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
MORE TIPS
What you can do to protect yourself:
Tell children or other adults in your household to get your
permission before using your telephone to call these services. For
example, children should be wary of telephone numbers that are
outside your own area code or have more than 10 digits; these may be
international numbers.
If you think your phone bill includes charges for calls to an 800
number for which you did not arrange to be billed, dispute the
charges. You must notify the company listed on your bill within 60
days after the first statement containing the error was sent.
Call your phone company to find out about phone restriction options.
Bell Atlantic has a relatively new service - Call Gate - that allows
customers to block certain area codes, specific numbers, or all
international calls.
If you have more questions:
The National Fraud Information Center is a private organization to
which you can report problems with telephone information or
entertainment services. Call toll-free: 1-(800) 876-7060, Monday
through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The NFIC also reports complaints
to the national Telemarketing Complaint System operated by the
Federal Trade Commission and the Attorneys General.
To file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, send
a letter describing your complaint to the Federal Communications
Commission, Common Carrier Bureau, Informal Complaints and Inquiries
Branch, Enforcement Division, Stop Code 1600A2, Washington, D.C.
20554
To file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which is
responsible for preventing distribution of false or deceptive
advertisements in consumer products, write to the Federal Trade
Commission, Correspondence Branch, Washington, D.C. 20580
For free copies of the FTC's brochures on 900 numbers and
publications on telemarketing fraud and other consumer issues
contact: Public Reference, Federal Trade Commission, Washington,
D.C., 20590, or call the office at 1-(202) 326-2222.
Sources: The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer
Protection, Federal Communications Commission, Bell Atlantic. by CNB