I had more than an hour of my time wasted on a scam artist from Nigeria. She (maybe he) was using the TTY relay for deaf that is offered through the internet now. She wanted some cremation jewelry, and after discussing the price she wanted me to ship to Nigeria, which I promptly said "NO!, we don't ship to Nigeria". I thought that would be it and hung up. she called back! arrgghh - now I am irritated, but am thinking, "maybe it was legit" went through more conversation where she says "are you trying to stress me out?" I said we don't ship outside of the US. She says she needs it shipped to Nigeria and will pay for the freight. (Well duh, anyone with a stolen credit card will pay the freight no matter how much it costs!) I say, fine, but we don't ship to Nigeria we only ship in the USA. She keeps going around. call is ended She calls again, says something about me stressing her out - Ya poor little scammer is getting stressed boo-hoo - maybe Mohammad can help you out scamming the stupid infidel...... Another round of "why won't you ship it to Nigeria, I will pay freight" me saying" we don't ship outside the US, we only ship in the US, we don't ship to Nigeria, ETC....." She says she lives in Pennsylvania but needs these shipped to Nigeria. another call Sure, just give me your phone number and I will call you back later. She says" I don't have a phone I am deaf" (If you know anyone who is deaf in the US, they all have phones!) (thinking "sure scammer") another call -- OK just give me the credit card number, the bank name and phone number" hoping this will just end the calls. another call "are you trying to stress me out?" - sure I am but you are stressing me more you stupid scammer! - I also told her somewhere that I just need her stolen credit card number. "let me go get the card number" -- a few minutes -- "I will have to call you in a bit when I get the card number" sure- go log in to the key logger and get a new one that works you jerk.... another call... I get a card number - address in PA phone number for Ohio and she wants to wait while I charge. I say "it is good I just need the shipping address" she says she wants tracking number, I say "I still need a shipping address to get a tracking number " -- duh?!?!? - I get the shipping address and she asks again for tracking - tell her I have everything I need to send the authorities, she asks" what does that mean" I say "I am calling the bank to tell them about your stolen credit card" she says "the card number is fake, cause I knew you were dumb" All this time I speak with the relay operators and one guy even ends the call right away when I told him what was happening. there are actually sites already dedicated to this specific problem using the TTY system. there went an hour plus of my day, although if yoyo reads this he will defend the scammer.
Through my domain contact information i had been (and still am off/on once/twice a month) continually harassed by (and i know who it is) a certain 'tool' that has nothing better to do then exploit AT&T's faulty wide-open TTY system in which they take absolutely no responsability for. I had went as far as i could go up the chain of command at AT&T to put a stop to these continual TTY calls (i had days of 30-100 calls) and absolutely no one at AT&T would/could do anything. Amazingly most of the reps i talked to admit their open TTY system is continually exploited (esp by ppl in nigeria) and most have no problem talking about near the majority of their incoming calls regarding TTY is in reference to abuse. Most of the calls i placed to AT&T ended in a somewhat canned/predictable response of "more people need to file/report these problems" as if this is not a blatently abused system with no lawful oversight. If the calls did not end in that fashion they ended in this apparent FCC regulation/law that apparently forces AT&T to be unable to block ANY TTY calls (through their own system) at all. Though if you ask me i'm near 100% that is AT&T's proprietary interpretation of that FCC TTY law to their own advantage. Furthermore i had contacted my phone company also (sprint) and they cannot block 1800#'s at all (not in their system, not in the phone itself) so yes i am still being harassed off/on by this person. Given i know who this person is (they've actually attacked my website repeatedly, attempted to drive up my website advertising costs, & also attempted to copy/clone my website) there is literally no other option for me other then to file a restraining order against them in their own state. Website aside (which i can handle via banning ips) the phone situation is much more bothersom. AT&T strikes again, they are the devil. I'd also contacted this persons ISP (cableone much of the attacks came from his own ip which is/he is in Roswell NM) and that situation was literally the WORST customer service i'd EVER dealt with. Those people literally hungup on me repeatedly & YELLED at me repeatedly for trying to get in actual contact with their abuse dept. I then contacted the local authorities (local to him/roswell/nm) and they had absolutely no clue what to do in reference to the complete neglegence on cableone's part, nor what to do about the website & TTY abuse, they then basically sent me on another run-around to the FCC (again)
I havent taken relay calls in years. My highest % of fraudulent orders used to be: 1 Relay Calls 2 Miami 3 Bronx considering that relay accounted for far less than 1% of orders, and the fraud rate was upwards of 60%, its unbelievable. Now its 1 Miami 2 Bronx relay calls are a complete waste of time (even if they are legitimate) - cuz they take forever. Why someone legitimate would want to give their CC number to a phone operator, who in turn, gives it to someone else, is beyond me. I have learned that there are different versions of relay. One is internet relay - I'll guarantee this is fraud, 100% of the time. Operators will sometimes even tell you its suspicious. then there are relay calls that come thru states (I got one thru indiana relay the other week). Those appear to be a little more real, but I don't take the risk.