Phone Company Blocks Calls to Certain Countries to Prevent Modem Hijacks

26 Jun, 2004 at 6:54am ET Article published in Tech

Telus announced on Friday that as of July 1, it would prevent direct-dialed calls to [b]Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Nauru and Sao Tome[/b] from connecting. Operator-assisted calls would be charged at the direct-dialed rate, the company said.

“Due to a rise in modem hijacking incidents in Canada, Telus is taking this step to help our customers,” said Jill Schnarr, Telus vice-president of customer marketing. “… It is important to note that this will not eliminate the risk. People need to be aware of scams such as modem hijacking, and ensure they are taking the appropriate steps to protect themselves.”

Although I was amused to see them call this a “new” scam several times, it is nice to see a telco being so pro-active. (They also happen to be my telco, which is reassuring.) Here’s hoping more will follow suit, and make a dent in the scammer’s income.

Source: CBC.CA

Comments

26 Jun 2004 ~ 3:36pm TheSmJ It'd really wipe out the problem if people were to drop dial-up and get rid of the telephony modem for good.
24 Nov 2004 ~ 12:41am A Wristen What woould help is if Big companies like Bell stopped their foot dragging on issues like this and instead of letting their "valued customers" - there's a joke - get it in the neck over unwarranted charges like this.
An irate customer on Global tV tonght has ad enough and intends with a group of others to launch a class action suit.
Having been one of those customers who has since switched to Sprint and never been happier, I wish them God speed.
Bell has been reaping their ill gotten gains and are about to pay for it in other ways - how long before frightened customers start changing their service as I did and blocking long distance calls. Hit em where counts - in those
too fat pockets of Ma Bell.
I don't know any other business that could get away with this treatment of their customers and not expect some serious repercussions.
24 Nov 2004 ~ 12:43am primesuspect

A Wristen wrote:

I don't know any other business that could get away with this treatment of their customers and not expect some serious repercussions.

How about the insurance industry? Or the mortgage industry? Both heartless and completely uncaring. If you are the victim of a "computer error" or "transcription error" or fraud, the burden is entirely on you to fix it. And they are against you 100% of the way.
24 Nov 2004 ~ 1:01am A. Wristen The program in this gentlemens case was downloaded without his knowledge not by his children but one of these programs known as a modem hijack. They are invisible and the average user would have no knowledge that it is operating.
How do you figure they are responsible for what is essentially an illegal program? Do you work for big tel yourself? Until you are in such a position don't be so quick to judge.
These are not isolated incidents and if you have been watching the news at all even hi speed dialers are NOT immune. The threat can hit these users if they have other devices connected such as fax machines or telephones.
24 Nov 2004 ~ 1:27am Thrax Phone hijackers (Known as slamming) can only be installed if A) The user randomly hits yes to the activex installation, B) The user has dialed down his/her browser settings to minimum, or C) The user agreed to download the program, and then ran it manually.
24 Nov 2004 ~ 2:29am primesuspect

A. Wristen (Guest) wrote:

The program in this gentlemens case was downloaded without his knowledge not by his children but one of these programs known as a modem hijack. They are invisible and the average user would have no knowledge that it is operating.
How do you figure they are responsible for what is essentially an illegal program? Do you work for big tel yourself? Until you are in such a position don't be so quick to judge.
These are not isolated incidents and if you have been watching the news at all even hi speed dialers are NOT immune. The threat can hit these users if they have other devices connected such as fax machines or telephones.

Um, I'm sort of confused. Is this directed at me? I made no mention of anything about this at all. I was giving examples of other industries that abused their customers.....