From: Tom Williams <tom.williams@hotmail.com.nospam>
Organization: Telecom
Subject: Payphone Fee Scams
Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 02:23:58 GMT


A talk show radio show host started his program tonight by talking
about an interesting payphone scam.  It seems that some clever folks
installed payphones in their houses.  They then proceeded to call as
many toll free 800 type numbers as possible, collecting the 24 cent
fee from each.  One guy racked up over $5,000,000!   Now they're
starting to be indicted.  

The host, Tom Martino http://www.troubleshooter.com was aware of the
scam because he called the guy up to find out why he had made so many
calls to Tom's 800 number.  (For those who have never heard the show,
it's one of the best of the problem solver type radio shows.  Unlike
everyone else, he encourages people to give the names of companies
they're having problems with, and frequently calls them up on the show
to get satisfaction.  Not infrequently, the companies with shady
business practices are telecom companies.)