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Discussion : SBC Unresponsive to, Identity Theft, Internet Fraud, Complaints

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1-15> 16-30 > Total 18 comments


2006-12-14 18:35:48 - Derek
Well, two years later, no improvement, sad to say.

Once should start at which stage a company is criminally negligent. When can they be held accountable for victims of crimes if there are records of them being alerted to fruad being committed on their net and they do nothing.

I myself investigate Cybercrimes. It is amazing that in the big USA a company like this can exist. Their reporting mechanisms are seriously broken. I have tried reporting fraud using their services to them. After jumping though hoops, I gave up!

I is amazing that a company such as this, wishing to play in the Internet space, does not understand what standards are.

The are listed as RFC ignorant. I guess they are trying to save money on abuse desk staff, since they do not get many. As such their directors pat themselves on their own shoulders for doing something right!


2006-08-17 16:40:14 -
I just had the most horrendous experience with sbc customer service.I could not log onto my sbc account as usual after att took over so I went and filed a online enquiry and then after no reponse I did it 3 times but no answer and then I called and its been a month that my bill is doe and they have charged 200$ early disconnection fee that is normal according to Patty in Billing.

I was diapointed that I had go tthrough calling or bsing on hold on five numbers and they could no thelp me
I was even willing to get my internet revivied and dispute 200$ but the way Patty spoke I was so think the work "customer service"
and then they tranfered me to another where they said I have to pay full amount and i have "reorder".

overall I was so discouraged by customer support,tech support,billing and all other five numbers.


2006-06-30 17:18:15 - BOB
As a fomer employee..they have a lot of turn arounds at SBC and AT&T and 90 per cent do not know what they are doing or what is going on...the manager's are too busy watching out for the union, sales quatoas, who is late from lunch or break, who's getting promoted,
and who is dating who...
there last worry is the customer and the customers problems...they use cutomers problems to try to burn other employees..."See you didn't fix the customers's problem so I'm writing you up"...they could care less
about the customers...I've heard them called them worse more than four letter words once they hang up with them...
its true....

AM I WRONG Bell people?????


2006-03-06 01:07:54 -
Dear Ms Madigan (attorney General of Illinois)

I hope you are hard at work catching the bad guys. I have a lead, I hope you will follow up on.

I am a small business owner in Chicago. A few days ago my partner and I were looking over our phone bills to try to find a way to economize.

If we hadn’t noticed the date of a particular charge, it never would have been caught, but once we started investigating, we uncovered a hive in improprieties, fraud, invasion of privacy and downright thievery…and SBC/AT&T is, in some way, involved in the entire affair. (Yes, SBC...Imagine that!)

A charge appeared in a section of our phone bill that was titled “Billed by Third Parties”
The charge was for 2 minutes of time spent on a 900 Number service. The total was $40.

Of course, we know all about 900 number and understand that consumers are at the mercy of their charges, but this was very unusual.

Since all our telephone calls are strictly business, we began to question which of us may have dialed a 900 number, and rack up $40 in charges.

Neither of us could remember ever dialing a 900 number service, so the charge was very curious.

It wasn’t until we noticed that the telephone number that the charge was applied to was a “dedicated fax line” in my home.
A dedicated line does not have a telephone attached to it. It is used only for faxing electronic messages from my home computer. The line doesn’t even have a dial-pad or a receiver.

This caused quite a concern until we noticed a more curious item on the bill. The charge was made for a call placed on December 21st, 2005 at 7:58pm, from my home fax line.

The reason this was so important was, that at 7:58pm on December 21st, 2005, my partner and I were 30,000 ft. over Kansas on our return flight from Mexico. I didn’t arrive home that evening until past 10:pm.

When we called SBC/AT&T to inquire about the charge, we were told that they have “nothing to do with that charge” and that we would have to contact the company that was doing the billing.

FIRST NOTE: SBC/AT&T doesn’t do anyone any favors, so there is an obvious margin of profit in the billing that SBC/AT&T adds and collects on our phone bills.

We were told that their “client” that did the billing was called “Infoservice” and we were given a toll free numbner to call and inquire about the charge.

When we called, the company answered as "INTEGRETEL". When asked about the diference in the name on the bill and the name of their company we were told..."it doesn't matter"

The charge in question was brought up on their copmputer and they insisted that we made a call to their 900 number service. When I confronted them about the facts (fax line...no dial pad.... not at home, etc.) They immediately agreed to remove the charge.

This is not a consumer complaint! I amnot concerned over $40. I am concerned that a company (in San Diego) was able to invade the privacy of my home computer, place a program on my computer which dialed a 900 number. Then they had the audacity to have it billed to my telephone, and SBC does their billing for them.

Ms. Madigan, these are the bad guys! I went to the internet to search and see if I was the only one that has had this happen. I was floored! Thousands of people every day are being charged. Some of them won't even notice it on their bills and who's making the money? The Bad Guys!

Some of the Websites that contain a few horror stories are listed below.

I would like to know what your office is doing to address this invasion of privacy, piracy and theft. It seems other Attorneys General in other states have already started some action. Please respond to my inquiry. I will do everything in my power to assist you.

I have sent a copy of this letter to Sen. Barack Obama, the Chicago Tribune, and several investigative reporters. Im interested inm who will act first and who will just turn their back on the consumers who are getting ripped off every day.

Awaiting your response,

Donald C. Calarco
American Marketing
Chicago, IL

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/lofiversion/index.php/t679.html


http://ezinearticles.com/?Dialing-Up-a-Scam:-Avoiding-the-Auto-Dialer-Virus&id=15632


2006-01-24 07:18:42 -
I received a e-mail from this company that supposidly helps a person get a grant to start a business. SBAEXPRSS out of Ut. contacted me by phone and told me of there program after listening to them I followed there instructions and gave them my account info, but later that evening I cancelled after I didn't like there pushiness and I just didn't trust them,so they removed the charge off my credit card. I then rececived a bill and monthly payment demand for a total of $4ooo.oo dollars with monthly payments of $129.39. When I received this notice I called them to tell them I had cancelled they said I didn't cancel and now I'm getting small charges on my credit card, but they still want me to pay this money . I have received nothing from them and they are saying they are going to turn it over to collection if I don't make my payments. It has always been my understanding that to have a contract both parties have to deliver goods ie: their sevices etc. and me payment for these services. I did not receive anything from them but a bill for their sevices. This company appears to be a money scam. What can I do to stop them from causing me a lot of problems with my credit and how can they be stopped from doing this rip off to others. Their other company names are (Grant search assistance) and (Horizon Finance)they are in Ut. and Universal Account Servicing. They are located in Kansas City , Mo.


2005-12-30 00:29:05 -
ON 12/27/05 I discovered a charge to my account payable to SBC EAzycharge that was not authorized by me. I contacted SBC was told that they noted I had called to update that SBC eazycharge but since I paid direct they did not bill it. After many phone calls and several emails, I learn that yes they are paying someones bill with my credit card and will not reverse the charge or tell me who owns the phone that is being paid.

In my attempt to resolve this issue I have been forwarded to many different people within SBS, none of which can consider that it could be an internal problem and their mistake. Meanwhile I am out +$300.


2005-11-04 10:10:22 -
A womem named Shannon Gonzales at 2902 Texas Ave. Texas City, TX phone 409 949 4249 opened a SW Bell account using my social security number. The account is now in collections with SW Credit Systems Case #8488386. I filed a police report against the person. The case was investigated and the fraud was confirmed; however, I can't get the SW Credit Systems filing off my credit report. I have worked through SW Credit and through SW Bell but the listing has has not been removed from my credit report. How do I move this process along?


2005-10-10 12:22:32 -
SBC totally misrepresented their phone/DSL packages to me, and are unresponsive when trying to correct the situation.


2005-09-17 19:05:04 -
Your site is realy very interesting.


2005-09-12 05:34:31 -
i don't know why my yahoo ID was hacked by someone.how can i keep it safely.they hacked my address and used it to harm the other.i don't know who,maybe they're outside American.,but they made me crazy.can you stop them for me,SBC Yahoo.


2005-01-11 14:27:04 -
My son lives in Okinawa. Recently, when he tries to call he is informed that my phone does not receive unwanted calls. I tried complaining to SBC by phone. NO RESULTS. I tried complaining on the internet. They will not accept my password and I cannot get registered. What kind of a screwed up outfit is SBC?

John Howland


2004-11-30 22:24:42 - Mark Brasche
Dear Skeptical:

Telephone numbers recorded in the ARIN database for the IP block in question were "Not in service". Other numbers I found from upstream nodes were funneled into a black hole SBC calls a voice mail system. Email sent directly to their fraud and abuse departments at Pac Bell in CA and SBC corporate HQ went completely unanswered. Exactly how much effort must one expend to report a crime in progress??? There should be reliable mechanisms in place. They should be very easy to find. It should result in immediate action. Period. The end.

ESP:

I do not imply criminal intent on SBC's part or that they were in any way connected with the identity theft. I simply report that they did not respond quickly enough to put a stop to the abuse of their network which facilitated the crime. The bottom line is they won't care until there's a monetary incentive to care, until their lack of concern tarnishes their public image to a large enough extent that it starts to affect THEIR bottom line.


2004-11-23 01:51:09 -
Fool me twice, but you won't fool me a 3rd time.


2004-11-22 06:18:23 -
The biggest computer crime right now is identity theft and you are talking to someone that has experienced this and non-stop spamming. I am glad that this man had the guts to investigate this. This is terrible thatbig corporations are spying on people.


2004-11-18 23:26:10 - Skeptical
I don't always believe what I hear, the story doesn't mention how the Mr. Basche tried to conctact SBC. I cannot imagine any ISP not wanting to do something about fraud. I wonder if SurfSafely.com is trying to get some propaganda going.


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