Yes, this is a potential problem for SOME computer controlled phone
switches. The following is the an extract of the "official"
announcemnt:
The 9-0-# scam has been around for years and is directed at businesses,
hospitals, government agencies and other organizations that use
telephone switching equipment called private branch exchanges (PBXs) to
handle their calls.
This type of fraud involves a perpetrator who calls an office and cons
an unsuspecting worker into transferring him or her to an outside line.
The perpetrator then starts dialing calls that are charged to the owner
of the PBX. In this latest version, the caller claims to be an AT&T
service technician "repairing" the phone lines and convinces the
recipient of the call to help out by transferring him to an outside line
and then hanging up.
Below are some points about this scam worth remembering:
This scam doesn't affect residential customers; its target is
businesses.
An AT&T service technician would never call customers and ask them to
help check phone lines.
The scam is generating a lot of interest in the media and over the
Internet, but our network fraud experts report no increase in the number
of fraud cases as a result of this notoriety.
The best prevention against this type of fraud is for business managers
to make their office staffs aware of it and to review what to do if it
happens.
If someone receives such a call, he or she should ask the "technician"
for a call-back number or for
the name and number of the caller's supervisor. Then hang up.
To report this or any other phone scams AT&T business customers should
call their account representatives. You also can call the AT&T Business
Customer Care Center at 1-800-222-0400, or report the scam to your local
law enforcement agency.
--
John Stewart
SUPSHIP San Diego
Information Systems Security Mgr
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