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Beware: Your computer might be making some expensive
international calls. And you could be stuck footing the bill.
It's called modem hijacking. Unsuspecting Web surfers download
a file that contains a malicious bit of programming. Later, the
program uses the computer's phone connection to place costly international
calls.
In some cases, surfers don't have to download anything. The program
can sneak aboard the computer as part of a virus. Or that "x"
a surfer clicks to banish a pop-up may instead load an automatic
dialer onto the machine.
According to the National Fraud Information Center,
modem hijacking is the fifth most-common type of Internet fraud
reported in 2004. "It's really a sneaky problem," says
Susan Grant, director of the center.
Most victims have dial-up phone connections. Charges come in on
the phone bill or, in some cases, are billed separately. Fraudsters
sometimes cloak the charges as porn-site access fees. As a result,
many bilked consumers are embarrassed and reluctant to report the
crime.
When they do, some consumers get caught in a battle with the scammers,
third-party international phone companies and their own phone carriers.
When customers dispute the charges, sometimes they are told by their
carriers to pay up or face having at least a portion of their service
disconnected.
That happened to Malachy McMahon. An insurance agent
and former mayor of Oil City, Pa.
McMahon didn't even notice the first $49 charge that
showed up on his bill last spring. But the next bill, which included
$900 in international charges, got his attention. Simultaneously,
a second company was sending separate bills and threatening to turn
him over to a collection agency.
For the second company, located in another state, the only point
of contact was an e-mail address, McMahon says. "You couldn't
even talk to these people," he says. "They wouldn't even
allow you to talk to them."
He raised the alarm with government agencies and politicians, but
to no avail. Finally, he got a call from the Pennsylvania Office
of Consumer Advocate, which had been investigating instances of
modem hijacking and the billing problems that followed.
By fall of 2004, "we began to see a smattering
of formal complaints," says Dianne Dusman, senior assistant
consumer advocate with the office. "It was surprising how high
some of the amounts were on some of these bills -- over $1,000 a
lot of times. Consumers were understandably horrified."
Some Pennsylvania consumers were equally frustrated when they tried
to correct the situation with their phone companies, Dusman says.
"In instances where people disputed the bill, they were often
told by reps that calls were made from your telephone, you're responsible
for all calls made from your telephone and you have to pay the bill."
Recently, the office reached an agreement with Verizon
Communications Inc., the long-distance carrier for many of those
who filed complaints in Pennsylvania. The company agreed to forgive
first-time charges that come as a result of modem hijacking. And
while the agreement is only legally binding for customers in Pennsylvania,
the company has decided to honor it with customers nationwide, says
Sharon Shaffer, a spokeswoman for the company.
"Under our updated policy, if a Verizon long-distance
customer reports he or she has been the victim of a modem-hijacking
scam, we will investigate and, where appropriate, remove the charge
from the Verizon bill," she says.
On the whole, phone carriers "used to be more forgiving of
these charges than they are now," says Grant.
"They are becoming less flexible," she says. "They're
caught in the middle, and it's a tough situation to be in."
But consumer advocate Clark Howard thinks phone companies have
to do a better job of assisting victims. At this point, he says,
if carriers insist on payment for fraud-related charges, state public
utilities agencies are the only avenue for relief. And "a lot
of people don't know these agencies exist," he says.
If it happens to you
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for resolving bills when
a modem's been hijacked, McMahon discovered.
"When you call and complain, they say 'you've been on the
line going to porn sites,'" says McMahon. "I was in no
porn sites. You'd repeat this and after days, you get tired of it.
It wears you down."
Like its more low-tech cousin, identity theft, modem hijacking
leaves consumers in the uncomfortable position of being presumed
guilty and having to prove their innocence.
To correct erroneous charges, alert two entities: your local phone
provider and your long distance carrier. "Write and call,"
says Howard, co-author of "Get Clark Smart." And send
all letters certified so you have proof the companies received them.
"A temporary credit is what you should expect," he says.
"And you may have to fight for it. You don't fight by screaming.
You work your way up the food chain."
If your phone companies aren't helpful, contact your state public
utilities commission. The agency can also tell you what rights you
have during the dispute process.
You also should file an informal complaint with the
FCC, says Howard. You can do it online at www.fcc.gov.
"Our experience is that when you start throwing the complaints
everywhere, that's when the phone companies start to back down,"
he says.
It may also help you keep your local phone service, says Russell
Blau, partner in the telecommunications, media and technology practice
for Swidler Berlin LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm. "In
most cases, they aren't allowed to disconnect local phone service
while a complaint is pending with the FCC," Blau says. But
a consumer "might have problems with long distance."
In addition to cleaning up the financial mess, you also need to
clean your computer. Up-to-date virus software should be able to
detect automatic dialers, says Alan Paller, director of research
at the SANS Institute, an organization that provides advanced security
education to computer professionals.
It's also a good idea to run anti-spyware. Run two different programs,
Paller says. "One alone won't do what two can do.
"If it's still happening, have someone come in
and reload your original software," Paller says. And for that,
"you really want a professional."
Dana Dratch is a freelance writer
based in Atlanta.
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