$207,000 Bell Canada phone bill
p2pnet news view Freedom | Mobiles:- In a double disaster, Bell Canada is having to admit:
- 45,000 Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile, MTS Allstream, SaskTel, Aliant Mobility, KMTS, NorthernTel, Sogetel, Télébec and TBayTel Bell Mobility LG 150 phones no longer meet radios specifications and, hence, must be recalled; and,
- Greater Toronto Area businesses are crying foul after receiving sky-high phone bills that charged them upward of $200,000 because hackers broke into their voicemail system and hijacked it to make long-distance calls.
The first item comes in a Bell puff piece which says Bell is “voluntarily” supporting a recall of the phones, “in use by Bell Mobility clients with a no-charge phone replacement program”".
Like it could do anything else.
“LG was notified by one of the independent bodies responsible for the certification of mobile phones that the LG 150 mobile phone is no longer certified as meeting the Radio Standards Specifications 102 (RSS 102), Radio Frequency Exposure Compliance of Radiocommunication Apparatus,” it admits, going on »»»
Health Canada is of the opinion, based on the review of test results and its assessment of current science, that the past and current use of the LG 150 should not pose immediate or long-term health concerns.
Umfortunate Bell customers with LG 150 phones can return them to a Bell Store from today until March 31, 2009, and receive an LG replacement phone.
For more, 1-866-282-6077 or bell.ca/lg150recall.
And guess what! People affected won’t have to pay Bell anything!
Which leads nicely into the second item in which Martin & Hillyer, a law firm based in Burlington, Ontario, says it’s been hacked and is “battling to erase a bill that includes charges worth more than $207,000 in calls to Sierra Leone in Western Africa,” according to the CBC, which goes on:
“The law firm isn’t alone with the billing problem, but Bell Canada spokeswoman Julie Smithers calls the situation ‘really rare’ and a ‘very old scam’ that affects primarily business customers, although she said some residential consumers have been caught.”
So that’s OK then.
In Oakville, Gordon Cowan, president of GPS Consulting Group & Insurance Agencies, “faced a similar problem on a smaller scale,” says the story, adding »»»
His offices rang up more than $60,000 in charges, starting with a 14-hour period on a weekend in early October.
“I came in on Sunday and there was a call from the Bell Canada fraud squad saying we had been breached. They shut our voicemail system down,” Cowan said in an interview.
“They told us to change our passwords, which we have been doing anyway, and they would be in contact with us.”
Cowan says that a week later the hacking happened again.
In both instances, Bell Canada agreed to reduce bill as a “goodwill gesture” â in the law firm’s case they cut it down to about half of the $207,000.
Cowan’s $60,000 bill was slashed to about $7,000.
Bell says that Canadians are responsible for taking steps to prevent their voicemail from being hacked.
Dear dear. Will troubles of Bell customers never cease?
It’s also been called to account for possible improprieties in the Do Not Call List, which it’s running for the CRTC, and for hijacking its customers with a specious traffic management scheme.
Stay tuned on all.
(Thanks, M)
Bell puff piece – Bell Mobility assists LG Electronics in LG 150 mobile phone recall, January 27, 2009
CBC – Bell Canada customer billed $207,000 after hacker breach, January 27, 2009
possible improprieties – Open letter to Tony Clements: DNCL farce, January 27, 2009
traffic management scheme – p2pnet traffic shaping digest, April 19, 2008
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January 27th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
hahahaha “Bell puff piece”
You have a way with words! Love it
January 28th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Real question is, were they running their own voicemail system or leasing from Bell?? If it was the latter, then Bell is 100% responsible and they shouldn’t have to pay a penny.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Apparently it played on TV. There is a user transcript of what was said here: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21822683-
—-
This issue was just on. Did my best to capture what was said on the TV.
The lawfirm spokesman:
Apparently this is happening to lots of people and Bell isn’t letting them off the hook. IN some cases they are reducing the amount owed.
People who have an average 300$ phone bill and it spikes to 200K are not being caught by Bell.
In 24-hrs 73$K in Long distance charges were made to Sierra Lionne. Bell cut the line.
The office opened on Monday and find out the have no line, they call Bell and find out the situation.
Bell tells them to follow their security procedures to change the 4 digit code on the system Bell told them to get. They do so and have always been doing so he stated.
Next week 134$K racked up again in 24hrs, Bell cut the line, again.
The law firm guy said bell told him: “your problem not ours”.
Bell told him in Nov they would waive all charges.
In Dec they sent a bill for 200+K saying the person who waived the fee had no authority.
Bell then said if you are willing to pay 100$K+ we may be willing to have the balance dropped.
Bells side now:
Julie Smithers, the mouth piece of Bell Canada:
Talks about the issue of phone hacking.. doesn’t say much really.
Says: Bell has very sophisticated technologies in place to catch these, as in the case of guy above above and block the calls and warn the companies.
Say’s Bell is a victim here to.
The reporter says: These are Bell voice mail systems that Bell recommended to these customer, and which Bell now says its their (customer) responsibility/problem.
The mouth-piece said we look forward to working with the person above. Mouth-piece skirted the issue and question.
Reporter: Why aren’t you doing more to protect the companies and consumers? She skirts the issue and repeats “Bell has very sophisticated technologies in place to catch these cases”. Then says, they take their business customers very very seriously and security and the fraud team are working on catching these.
Reporter says: Bell Canada wanted the law firm to sign a confidentiality agreement (keep it quiet) and then they would drop the charges. Why? The Bell mouth piece skirted the issue and she said they will work with the law firm.
I missed some due to a phone call… :/ But it was just more of the lip-flapping and repeating the above.
The lawyer guy again:
Bell has no incentive for security like other companies do (i.e. credit card companies and the like).
Reporter will you fight? Law firm guy chuckled but said we hope it doesn’t get to that and smiled even more.
He said, Bell said there is no guarantee it won’t happen again.
More or less that was about it.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:18 pm
In the case of the Law Firm, I know someone who works there and I was told that the phone system was purchased from Bell and Bell outsourced to Nortel to have the system installed. The firm actually paid for a Bell representative to attend at the office and train all staff and assit with voicemail set up. The system is set so that each user must change thier password every 90 days, which was set up by the Bell representative. The passwords used were as difficult and random as a 4 digit password allows. Passwords were changed frequently and mailboxes were deleted as soon as users left the firm. Bell is trying to make it look like the problem is that the users are idiots and did not take measures to protect thier systems, but this was not the case. Bell is trying to scam us again! They are trying to get us all to believe that the reason these people have a $207,000 phone bill is because they used simple passwords that someone could guess. The fact is that the police have said it does not matter what password you use, the fraudsters use a computer program that runs every number until it gets in. Bell has known about this problem for a long time, but have pressured people into paying because they offer them a reduction as a goodwill gesture and the average person thinks “I had better just pay the reduced rate, because I don’t have the means to fight the phone company”. Let’s face it, one of the companies that has been hacked into is a computer company. If a computer company can be hacked into, anyone is vunerable and it just doesn’t matter what measures we take . . . Bell has failed to take measures to protect the consumer. They have not taken measures to develop better security and they have not brought these issues to the forefront so that the consumer is aware of how vulnerable they are. This is why Bell is blowing smoke and trying to make us all think that the people this has happened to are stupid and deserve it.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I talked to Bell yesterday. Basically Bell says if you pay for Bell lines you technically “own” those lines. If any long distance fraud occurs then you are responsible for all the charges.
Now – Bell lines terminate/end on your telephone set (commercial or otherwise). Along the way the lines come into the telephone closet in your building (which may or may not be accessible to the public), the lines then go back to the demarcation point (which may be in the basement of a large multi unit building). Before that the Bell lines are very accessible in the little grey box that sits at the curb in front of your building (this is Bell property and does NOT have a lock). So Bell says that if someone stands on the street and hacks into your lines in the Bell box that was not locked – YOU (THE CUSTOMERS) ARE TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHARGES.
You cannot prove – and neither can Bell Canada – where the fraud took place, yet you are responsible for the charges.
How do fight this?
Talk to the CRTC 1-877-249-2782
Talk to the Commission for Complaints for Telecommunication Services 1-888-221-1687
Talk to Phonebusters 1-888-495-8501
and talk to the media.
Think about it! Bell is also making a financial windfall/profit from this fraud – and I thought that was illegal.
They also have the technology to track and prevent this fraud.
Bell also has a “Managed Long Distance Solution” option for their customers – but you have to have 200.00 per month of long distance before they will help you protect yourself from fraud on your/their lines.
Yes, customers have to have legitimate passwords on their voice mail equipment – but when you have taken that precaution and the fraud still occurs – what are you supposed to do?
Bell will take no responsibility for their own lack of security in their own infrastructure – and will continue to blame the end user as long as they can get away with it!