In the latest Web scam, surfers who close out some popups are being hit with hefty long-distance charges.
By LOUIS HAU and NANCY PARADIS
Published February 5, 2004
If popup ads aren't annoying enough, imagine getting ripped off for hundreds of dollars just for trying to close one of those online ads that bursts onto your computer screen.
In the latest version of a long-running Internet scam, unsuspecting victims who surf the Web via phone modems are being hit with hefty long-distance charges for calls to exotic locales such as the South Pacific island of Nauru and the west African nation of Sao Tome & Principe.
The recent wave of "modem hijacking" attacks has become serious enough that Verizon Communications has alerted its customer-service representatives recently to be prepared for calls from customers who have been duped by the scam, according to Verizon spokesman Bob Elek.
Here's how it works: A Web surfer tries to close a popup window but accidentally clicks to download a software program. The program, planted on the victim's computer, dials overseas numbers and bills the victim for the calls at exorbitant rates.
Elek said the calls reported to Verizon so far have been to five tiny countries unfamiliar to many Americans: Nauru, Sao Tome & Principe, the African nations of Comoros and Guinea-Bissau and the central European principality of Lichtenstein.
One Tampa Bay area customer ensnared by the scam was saddled with about $350 in overseas long-distance charges, Elek said.
And there's not much Verizon can do for customers, Elek said, because callers are billed directly from the overseas phone number they call, not by Verizon or their long-distance carrier, even though charges for the calls appear on the customer's Verizon bill.
In addition, the popup window that starts the scam usually asks if you want to download software, so the company could argue it has the customer's approval.
Elek said Verizon can provide a customer with the name of the billing entity but can't provide much further assistance. He said he didn't have the names of any of the companies immediately available. Verizon has no immediate plans to warn its customers of the practice, he said.
Jason Duff, a spokesman for Sprint, which provides local phone service in Citrus County and parts of Hernando and Pasco counties, said he wasn't familiar with the most recent incidents of modem hijacking but acknowledged that the company has warned customers before of such scams.
Marta Casas-Celaya, a spokeswoman for BellSouth, which provides local phone service in most of Hernando County and a small part of Pasco County, said she wasn't aware of any recent reports of modem hijacking against her company's customers.
- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or 813226-3404.
