jgd@garden-brau.csd.uwm.edu (John G Dobnick) (06/10/90)
From _The Milwaukee Journal_, Sunday June 10, 1990, page B3
Arrest May End Mystery Phone Calls
Madison, Wis. -- AP -- A 23-year-old Madison man has been arrested in
a case involving mysterious phone calls that were created by
connecting Madison residents with strangers.
He is expected to be charged Monday with 27 misdemeanor counts of
unlawful telephone use, according to Madison Police Chief David
Couper.
Wisconsin Bell officials said they believed the man's arrest last week
had solved the mystery that had them searching for problems in their
computer software.
The man is accused of using the conference call capability of a
Madison business to connect residents and companies with each other
and possibly with people from other parts of the world. The
mysterious calls began about two weeks ago.
Although some victims said they were connected to both men and women
speaking such languages as Hindi, Spanish and Japanese, authorities
speculated that the man may have talked to them himself, pretending to
be from another state or a different part of the world.
A tracer placed on one victim's telephone led authorities to the
suspect, who was arrested after calls made to the person's house
Tuesday and Wednesday were traced to the Madison company where he
works nights and weekends.
The suspect, who has a history of similar offenses, reportedly called
two numbers at once and listened silently to the conversation that
ensued as the two callers realized that neither had initiated the
call, said Jeff Potter, Wisconsin Bell's manager of corporate
communications.
John G Dobnick
Computing Services Division @ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
INTERNET: jgd@csd4.csd.uwm.edu UUCP: uunet!uwm!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!jgd
ATTnet: (414) 229-5727peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) (06/11/90)
In article <8840@accuvax.nwu.edu> jgd@garden-brau.csd.uwm.edu (John G. Dobnick) writes: > The man is accused of using the conference call capability of a > Madison business to connect residents and companies with each other > and possibly with people from other parts of the world. ... Another case that would never have come up if Caller-ID had been implemented. I've been victimized like this myself after I caused trouble for some bozo who was charging calls to my phone number. I suspect that he was using three-way calling in my case. `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. <peter@ficc.ferranti.com> 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com> @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf.
john@eecs.nwu.edu (John A. Weeks III) (06/13/90)
> He is expected to be charged Monday with 27 misdemeanor counts of > unlawful telephone use, according to Madison Police Chief David > Couper. > The man is accused of using the conference call capability of a > Madison business to connect residents and companies with each other > and possibly with people from other parts of the world. Why is this illegal? Perhaps because he was stealing the phone usage? If I were paying all of the phone costs, would it be illegal for me to do this with my phone system? John A. Weeks III (612) 942-6969 john@newave.mn.org NeWave Communications ...uunet!rosevax!bungia!wd0gol!newave!john [Moderator's Note: Whether you pay for phone service or steal it is not material here, although if he had stolen the service additional crimes would have been committed. In any event, to answer your question, yes, harassing phone calls are illegal. I mean, imagine telling the court, "But judge, I paid for those calls!" PT]