Patricia A Dunkin <pad@groucho.att.com> (06/27/91)
The guy in AT&T Corporate Security to whom I reported the following said that it sounds like a variant on a recent popular sort of fraud, where the nasties get your checking account number and put through a bank draft for more of your money than you planned to give them. Yesterday at work I got a call from a computer that claimed to be "The Award Notification Center" (no other identification) and telling me to call 312-733-7000 between 9AM and 9PM Eastern within 24 hours to claim my "award." The recording also gave me a claim number, B44. Knowing it *had* to be bogus, I decided to check it out. (Good for laughs, anyway.) A human answered and gave me her first name (still no identification of the company) and then started to ask me for my name. When I tried to get her to tell me what company she was working for, she began to sound defensive, repeating *identical* words several times -- she must have been reading from the script for handling-callers- who-ask-too-many-questions -- then put me on hold, came back, (obviously) read off another script describing the trip for two to Hawaii that was my "award," told me to call 312-988-8191 to claim it, said "Aloha," and hung up before I could say another word. The second number was answered by a recording that told me roughly the same thing the human did concerning the trip I had "won" to Hawaii, instructed me to send a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check for $12.95 to a Chicago address, and assured me that the travel office fees would not exceed one Y-class fare to Hawaii. That must have been the punch line. It seemed likely that AT&T Security would be interested -- after all, I did get the call at work, and sleazy telemarketers don't make carriers look good. The security person I spoke with was friendly and helpful, and explained as mentioned above that getting hold of checking account numbers for unauthorized purpo$e$ might be the real goal of all this. He also said that the IRS and other legal authorities are interested in this sort of nonsense and promised to pass the information on to them. Oh, and they never did ask for the claim number -- if someone else wants to use it, I wouldn't object. :-) Pat Dunkin (pad@groucho.att.com) [Moderator's Note: Well here we go again, dear readers! This organization pops up from time to time, as readers of the 'Randy message' will recall. This time around, no further investigation is needed. We know *all about* this bunch, don't we! :) In case you are interested, I've heard nothig further from Randy in recent weeks. PAT]
David Schanen <mtv@milton.u.washington.edu> (06/28/91)
In article <telecom11.494.3@eecs.nwu.edu> pad@groucho.att.com Patricia A Dunkin) writes: > The second number was answered by a recording that told me roughly the > same thing the human did concerning the trip I had "won" to Hawaii, > instructed me to send a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check > for $12.95 to a Chicago address, and assured me that the travel office > fees would not exceed one Y-class fare to Hawaii. That must have been > the punch line. There are actually legal businesses doing this sort of thing. They get enough people to send them $12.95 and it adds up. The prizes (Hawaii vacations etc) often combinations of coupons, hotel accomodations, free film and developing, portraits, or other promotional material, mostly things you could find in magazines if you looked hard enough. I rememer a place like this in Denver that would call you and get you to answer a trivia question. If you got it right (two out of three chance:) you win a choice between Las Vegas or Hawaii! (Hotel accomodations only - transportation not included.) If you got it wrong, you get another guess, congratulations you win! Then you get a package of coupons, free portraits, etc ... delivered _to your door_ for a small promotional fee of $29.95. Ahh well ... shady but legal. I'm sure a *few* people even got there monies worth. Cheers! Dave Inet: mtv@milton.u.washington.edu * 8kyu * UUNET: ...uunet!uw-beaver!u!mtv
gavron@uunet.uu.net> (06/29/91)
In article <telecom11.494.3@eecs.nwu.edu>, pad@groucho.att.com (Patricia A Dunkin) writes: > Yesterday at work I got a call from a computer that claimed to be "The > Award Notification Center" (no other identification) and telling me to > call 312-733-7000 between 9AM and 9PM Eastern within 24 hours to claim > my "award." The recording also gave me a claim number, B44. > Oh, and they never did ask for the claim number -- if someone else > wants to use it, I wouldn't object. :-) I sure decided to (what the heck, work was slow on a Friday...) The young lady who answered informed me I had won one of: A 32" Sony color TV $2000 in cash Two airline tickets to Jamaica $1000 US Savings bond. My bonus prize (guess what, I won a bonus ;-) was seven days in Orlando Florida! (WHAT? in the middle of the summer??? I enjoy arid Arizona, thanks ;-) The company was identified as ACS - American Consumer Services, claiming to offer discounts on consumer purchases. Their yearly fee is $199. They *did* ask me "do you have a checking account" and enjoyed the "yes" answer. They say this promo is part of their membership drive. I have no idea which one of those prizes is worth the $199 but I suspect since "you'll get the membership material in 21-24 working days, and your prize in 30-31 working days" that by that time they would no longer exist. Ehud Gavron (EG76) gavron@vesta.sunquest.com [Moderator's Note: We covered this organization in detail a couple months ago, as Randy Borow will no doubt recall ... :) And who is Randy Borow you ask? ... Yes, I've had several inquiries in the mail in the past few days since the reference to 'the Randy Message' appeared here. Our mailing list is growing by leaps and bounds, and it is now dawning on me that at least a couple dozen of you were not here when Randy's now infamous gaff appeared in these columns. We had run a message from John Higdon discussing the Chicago telemarketing scam and some of us contributed what we knew. Randy Borow, then an employee of AT&T used his ability as an employee to pull records on this company and send them in a message to the Digest. His message made for fascinating reading, but angered his superiors at AT&T who fired him as a result of his revealing confidential customer information. PAT]