44 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
44 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
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The THC Hack/Phreak Archives: 900FRAUD.NWS (38 lines)
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Note: I did not write any of these textfiles. They are being posted from
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the archive as a public service only - any copyrights belong to the
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authors. See the footer for important information.
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==========================================================================
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From {Omaha World-Herald}, Thursday, April 2, 1992.
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900-Number Fraud Case Expected to Set a Trend
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by David Thompson, {World-Herald} Staff Writer
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Civil court cases against abuses of 900-toll telephone number 'will be
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slam dunks' as the result of the successful prosecution of a criminal
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case in Omaha over 900 numbers, a federal postal inspector said
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Wednesday.
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Postal inspector Michael Jones said numerous civil actions involving
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900 numbers have been filed, including three recently in Iowa. At
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least one civil case is pending in Nebraska, he said, and there may be
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others.
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Jones said the mail fraud conviction Tuesday of Bedford Direct Mail
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Service Inc. of Omaha and its president, Ellis B. Goodman, 52, of 1111
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S. 113th. Ct., may have been the first criminal conviction involving
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900 numbers.
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The conviction also figures in Nebraska Attorney General Don
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Stenberg's consumer protection program, which calls attention to
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abuses of 900 numbers, a staff member said.
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Among consumer complaints set to Stenberg's office, those about 900
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numbers rank in the top five categories, said Daniel L. Parsons,
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senior consumer protection specialist.
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People are often lured by an offer of a gift or prize to dial a toll-
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free 800 number, then steered to a series of 900 numbers and charged
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for each one, Parsons said.
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He said that during the last two years, state attorneys general have
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taken action against 150 organizations for allegedly abusing 900
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numbers.
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