There’s a new twist on the phone call scams. Following reports earlier in the year that industry companies were the targets of fraudulent phone orders, it seems a new type of scam is in the works.
Companies across the United States are reporting that they have received calls through the Telephone Relay Service (TRS) intended for hearing-impaired callers. According to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), “TRS facilitates personal and business calls for people who require special telecommunications equipment, like a text telephone” or TTY system, and those who use the typical voice telephone. Usually an operator reads or relays the TTY messages to the hearing person.
The scheme "is somewhat unique, but it is known," said Todd Palmer, an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "Usually they order in bulk and then turn around and sell these items on the Internet.” Palmer advises that companies receiving these types of calls need to report the fraud to their local FBI field office and should also inform the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a national warehouse that tracks this information.
Reporting Hints
To report the fraud, call your local FBI field office. To find the contact information for field offices, visit www.fbi.gov and select the closest major city. Also report the fraud to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) by visiting www.ifccfbi.gov and choosing "File a Complaint." It is important to file the report with both places, as the local field office would be the one to act on a specific complaint, but the IFCC keeps track of the overall trends and it might be possible to trigger a larger investigation if it is clear that this is happening in multiple areas.
Agent Palmer indicated that it was important to include as much information in the report is possible. You will need to provide your company's name and contact information, as well as the contact information for the person making the order. If you have actually been defrauded and lost money/products, it is especially important to report the value of the loss. Palmer indicated that some busier field offices may have a minimum dollar value needed to trigger an investigation. It is possible that if multiple reports come in, that might override the dollar value. But in many of the cases, the callers are attempting to order thousands of dollars of cartridges, so the dollar amount can be fairly high.
If you receive the calls and are aware of the scam (and thus have no actual loss), it still is important to get as much contact information as you can and to report the value of the loss you would have incurred had you followed through with the scheme. This will help build the case and increase the likelihood of an investigation.
When you talk to your local field office, explain the situation you encountered. Palmer said it is important to indicate the widespread nature of this problem (by explaining how many of these calls you get each week or if you know of any other companies receiving these types of calls). Some reports have indicated that the credit cards used have been international cards. If this is the case, it is also something that is especially of interest to the FBI.
The IFCC suggests providing the following information in your report: Total monetary loss, method of contact(s), date of contact(s), monetary loss resulting from each contact, a description of your payment transaction(s) with the subject, a narrative description of the contact(s), general narrative description of the fraud, information on witnesses, information on other victims, identification of law enforcement or government agencies you have contacted concerning this matter, and any other information you believe to be pertinent.
You can also notify the FCC of the problem calls by calling (800) CALL FCC (225-5322) or e-mailing fccinfo@fcc.gov. This activity would also fall under the Federal Trade Commission; report the calls by visiting www.ftc.gov.
Recharger Magazine is also compiling a list of the events to help show law enforcement agencies the scope of the problem. Send an e-mail with your name, company contact information and details of the call to info@rechargermag.com, with a subject line of "Fraud Report."
Anatomy of the Scam
In the usual TRS scam scenario seen in the remanufacturing industry, the caller wants to order large quantities of cartridges, usually OEM cartridges in quantities of 30 to 500. The callers have also asked about printers or laptop computers. Industry members speculate that it is likely that the callers are not actually hearing impaired, but use the relay service to help assure anonymity. Agent Palmer said this would prevent the callers' voices from being recorded for use in identifying them.
Reports indicate that these callers give contact information that can't be confirmed or they decline to provide phone numbers. To help in reporting the fraud, try to get as much information from the caller as possible, including name, telephone number and shipping address. Usually one or more credit card numbers are given as payment. The product is shipped, but then the credit card is denied or the money is charged back by the credit card company, industry members say. If the scam is successful, remanufacturing businesses could be out thousands of dollars in inventory.
“I don’t know if we have had any reports” of this type of fraud, said Rosemary Kimball, director of media relations for the FCC. She said that it was an “outrage” if services intended for the hearing impaired were being used fraudulently to scam businesses.
A spokesperson for the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) said she had heard one other report of this type of scam, but she wanted to remind companies that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires companies to be accessible to hearing impaired customers using the relay services, and not to refuse all relay calls. Legitimate callers will often have smaller orders and should be willing to comply with reasonable requests for verifiable contact information.
To avoid the scam, be sure to verify the caller’s contact information, ask for wire transfers as payment rather than credit cards and then delay shipment until the money has arrived. If it sounds too good to be true, it pays to check out the order before you send the cartridges.
For more information on avoiding credit card fraud, see “Industry Alert: Scams Target Remanufacturers,” in the February 2003 issue of Recharger Magazine.
Hints from February 2003
It pays to be careful with new customers, especially ones that aren’t familiar to you or aren’t local. You should also be suspicious if a new customer wants a large “rush” order with express shipping, is sending the shipment to an international address, asks for the shipment to be sent to a different address other than the billing address or if the only contact information is an e-mail address that is a free account (Hotmail, etc.).
If the order sounds suspicious, it is probably worth investigating. While the credit card companies protect consumers against fraud, there isn’t as much protection on the side of the merchant. If you send merchandise, you will be out the corresponding amount, and may also be liable for the credit card fees (2 to 3 percent) or chargeback fees, plus the shipping charges.
Always request full contact information, including mailing address and telephone number. If there is any doubt, call to check it out. Also talk with the credit card company to see if the card has been reported stolen, and to see if the shipping address matches the cardholder’s address.
For Internet orders, there are systems that can match the billing address given with the order against the real billing address. Note that these only work for U.S. cardholders – international orders can’t be verified this way. Also, it may take a while for a card to be reported stolen, so consider holding shipments for 30 days on suspicious or overseas orders or, for large orders, consider shipping only part of the order at first.
Other recommended methods to avoid fraud: ship only to street addresses, not P.O. boxes, and with international orders, ask for the customer to fax you a copy of the credit card (front and back) and of the customer’s ID or driver’s license.
