bitmap@polari.UUCP (bitmap ) (05/06/91)
My brother-in-law recently experienced an event which defies explanation. Maybe someone here can guess what's going on? * Two weeks ago, a telephone company switching problem had his incoming calls going to another number (which differed only in one digit), and that number's calls going to his number. The problem was corrected after a caller complained to the telco (US West). * One week ago, he discovered that the outgoing message on his answering machine had mysteriously been changed. The new message was a standard greeting in an unfamiliar voice, which stated a phone number which was the number his line had been wrongly connected to. He called the other number and talked to a woman (whose voice might have been the same on the tape) who said she didn't know anything about it, and furthermore that she didn't have an answering machine. The manual for his answering machine tells how to read incoming messages remotely (using a one-digit password), but does not say how to set the greeting remotely. It is unlikely that anyone broke into his house to do it, because the place is guarded by a security system and three dogs. The phone company had no explanation. My brother- in-law did have a few house guests (relatives with a local small-town cop) around that time, but the voice on the tape didn't match the voice of anyone who was there. Can anyone guess what might have happened? Might this be some kind of weird scam? We'd be interested in any guesses you can make. Thanks, Jonathan Mark uunet!polari!bitmap