FBI Warrants against two VRS companies and other companies

Also there was concerns about Swat calls using TRS as well...

FOXNews.com - Prank 911 Calls Send SWAT Teams to Unsuspecting Homes - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

But good news they already caught the guy who did the Swat Prank calls for three years!

Local News | Mukilteo teen gets 3 years for prank SWAT call | Seattle Times Newspaper

I think those are another reason why TRS is being investigated, I am not sure what they are investigating but that's what I think they are doing right now...
 
Diehardbiker - you said: "After re-read the whole document, diguesting...

What it means is that one of these scumbag VRS terp agreed to get a call from another country, then leave it as "Park" with privacy mode enabled which results generating the minutes on call from FCC.

This kind of abuse should never be tolerated. "


You are right, this kind of abuse should never be tolerated, but you are pointing your finger at the wrong person. You assume it is the "scumbag VRS interpreter" as you put it, who is to blame. As an employee, we have no choice in what kind of calls we interpret. We are not VRS Police, we cannot decide which calls we want to or don't want to interpret. We have NO IDEA what kind of call is coming in when our phone rings.
Your finger should be pointed at the Management of the VRS company, who organized and planned these fraudulent calls...these managers told their VRS interpreters to go ahead and process these FAKE calls. You should be angry with the Owners and Management who PAID deaf people to call in and INTENTIONALLY defraud the government. Your finger should be pointed at the Deaf people who accepted the offer to be paid to make multiple bogus VRS calls just to increase minutes for Viable. Shame on them! THEY make this look bad, not the VRS interpreters who finally stood up for what was right.

Viable and CAC have been doing this for at least 5 years. I was an employee at another company that worked with CAC for a brief period. We had the same calls there.
Yes, Viable/CAC PAID deaf people to call in and leave running calls for many hours at a time. Some of those deaf callers even had more than one VP in their home, and VIs could see several calls running at the same time. Yes, Viable/CAC told these deaf people to tell the VRS interpreters "you don't have to interpret, put on privacy screen and go get coffee or something..." And Viable/CAC told their interpreters to go ahead and process these bogus calls.

So who is the REAL scumbag?
 
Im just saying in general, what it means I have no idea who this person have committed crime. Your right it is possible the management did, or the management ask terp to do them favor, can it happen? You can bet on it.

I consider everybody at this point not guilty, that is I rather wait until the judgement points to specific person or group then I would call em scumbags.

The only concern that I have is that FCC may increase scrutiny against all TRS providers which can decrease quality and increase the costs.

Diehardbiker - you said: "After re-read the whole document, diguesting...

What it means is that one of these scumbag VRS terp agreed to get a call from another country, then leave it as "Park" with privacy mode enabled which results generating the minutes on call from FCC.

This kind of abuse should never be tolerated. "


You are right, this kind of abuse should never be tolerated, but you are pointing your finger at the wrong person. You assume it is the "scumbag VRS interpreter" as you put it, who is to blame. As an employee, we have no choice in what kind of calls we interpret. We are not VRS Police, we cannot decide which calls we want to or don't want to interpret. We have NO IDEA what kind of call is coming in when our phone rings.
Your finger should be pointed at the Management of the VRS company, who organized and planned these fraudulent calls...these managers told their VRS interpreters to go ahead and process these FAKE calls. You should be angry with the Owners and Management who PAID deaf people to call in and INTENTIONALLY defraud the government. Your finger should be pointed at the Deaf people who accepted the offer to be paid to make multiple bogus VRS calls just to increase minutes for Viable. Shame on them! THEY make this look bad, not the VRS interpreters who finally stood up for what was right.

Viable and CAC have been doing this for at least 5 years. I was an employee at another company that worked with CAC for a brief period. We had the same calls there.
Yes, Viable/CAC PAID deaf people to call in and leave running calls for many hours at a time. Some of those deaf callers even had more than one VP in their home, and VIs could see several calls running at the same time. Yes, Viable/CAC told these deaf people to tell the VRS interpreters "you don't have to interpret, put on privacy screen and go get coffee or something..." And Viable/CAC told their interpreters to go ahead and process these bogus calls.

So who is the REAL scumbag?
 
From what I hear that Sorenson is also in trouble on something....
 
I tired to hear about FBI. Who fault. I don't think VRS company, or something. NO idea!
 
The FCC has very strict rules regarding ASA. ASA means “Average Speed of Answer.” This is the amount of time it takes for our system to “answer” a call that comes in. VRS companies do not want to call VRS and have to wait, wait, and wait for the VI to come on the screen FCC put in rules that all calls have to be answered in certain amount of time. FCC fine any VRS company for being slow to answer calls within ASA established time limits.

If you can wait VI to answer call that comes in for five minutes or over, must hang up.
 
This part is true, I believe no more than 2 minutes wait for next available agent.

The FCC has very strict rules regarding ASA. ASA means “Average Speed of Answer.” This is the amount of time it takes for our system to “answer” a call that comes in. VRS companies do not want to call VRS and have to wait, wait, and wait for the VI to come on the screen FCC put in rules that all calls have to be answered in certain amount of time. FCC fine any VRS company for being slow to answer calls within ASA established time limits.

If you can wait VI to answer call that comes in for five minutes or over, must hang up.
 
This part is true, I believe no more than 2 minutes wait for next available agent.

not so fast

take wait time for whole day or month then average it out must 2 minutes

not 2 minute wait each call

ASA average speed asnwer
 
I am aware of this, there will always be spike of calls, and that is when exemption is made.

Edit:
Found on FCC website
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/videorelay.html
===================================================================
Speed-of-Answer and 24/7 Requirements for VRS

The FCC has adopted various rules to improve VRS service. Speed-of-answer requirements were phased in during 2006 and took full effect on January 1, 2007. Now VRS providers must answer 80 percent of all VRS calls within 120 seconds. VRS providers must also offer the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
===================================================================

So 120 seconds equals 2 minutes

not so fast

take wait time for whole day or month then average it out must 2 minutes

not 2 minute wait each call

ASA average speed asnwer
 
I am aware of this, there will always be spike of calls, and that is when exemption is made.

Edit:
Found on FCC website
Video Relay Services
===================================================================
Speed-of-Answer and 24/7 Requirements for VRS

The FCC has adopted various rules to improve VRS service. Speed-of-answer requirements were phased in during 2006 and took full effect on January 1, 2007. Now VRS providers must answer 80 percent of all VRS calls within 120 seconds. VRS providers must also offer the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
===================================================================

So 120 seconds equals 2 minutes

You are right. If you will wait to answer VI coming in less than 2 minutes, hang up then call VRS again
 
Well, I don't know how many interpreter are in SVRS? We do not know how many people hire and job. They are busy and some interpreter already phone busy and break time. It was not very easy and have to be patient.

It not easy.
 
Rockville company linked to alleged fraud

Monday, July 20, 2009

Business partnered with Florida executives charged in conspiracy
by Kevin James Shay | Staff Writer
Viable, a Rockville company that provides services to deaf people and is the subject of a federal investigation, partnered this year with a Florida company whose owners were recently arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud the federal government.

In addition, an affidavit by an FBI agent filed in a federal court in Florida refers to a Rockville company with a background strikingly similar to that of Viable. The agent said a former employee of the Rockville business told investigators that the company regularly billed for calls that were not properly interpreted.

Yosbel Buscaron and Lazaro Fernandez, co-owners of Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf, a Miami Lakes, Fla., sign language interpreting company that began a partnership with Viable this year, were arrested in late June for conspiracy to defraud the government, according to court documents.

Buscaron has been released on bond and has not been formally indicted, his attorney, Marcia J. Silvers of Miami, said Monday. Fernandez's attorney could not be reached Monday.

The affidavit by FBI special agent Joseph P. Gordon details a "company 2" as announcing in a press release on Feb. 9 a partnership with ICSDeaf "to provide a Spanish language capability" for video relay services, which allows people with hearing disabilities to communicate online using interpreters and Web cameras.

Viable's Web site has a press release dated Feb. 9 that announces the ICSDeaf partnership and quotes Buscaron as saying that ICSDeaf and Viable "share much in common; we both are young, minority-owned companies with a deep passion and commitment to communication access and community empowerment."

The affidavit also identifies "company 2" as being established in 2005, headquartered in Rockville and operating or subcontracting call centers in Rockville, Towson, Baltimore, Austin, Texas, and other cities. Viable was formed in 2005 and has call centers in those cities, according to the company's Web site.

Gordon said an interpreter hired by this company in 2006 in Rockville, who worked there until May 2007, told investigators that calls were made there that were not being interpreted. Some callers told this interpreter that they were friends of one of the company's owners, and one said he was paid $20 an hour to make the "run calls," Gordon said. An hourlong video relay call, based on current government reimbursement rates, would be billed to a fund overseen by the Federal Communications Commission and administered by a nonprofit at the rate of $403.80, Gordon said.

Glenn Lockhart, a Viable spokesman, said in a recent e-mail that federal investigators visited the company's headquarters in June, and the company is "cooperating fully" with investigators. He could not be reached on Monday.

Lockhart previously referred specific questions to company attorney Timothy Sullivan, who did not return calls and e-mails last week and this week seeking further comment. Sullivan is a partner in the Greenbelt law firm Brennan Sullivan and McKenna, with areas of practice that include white-collar crimes, federal trials, ethics and professional responsibility.

"Regardless, our service has remained 24/7 without downtime," Lockhart said in the previous e-mail. "We are still providing top-notch video relay services to deaf and hard of hearing individuals who rely on our technologies for their telephone calls to family, businesses and everyone else important in their lives."

Ian McCaleb, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said Monday he could neither confirm nor deny that Viable was under investigation. He also declined to identify "company 2" in Gordon's affidavit.

Viable's offerings include videoconferencing hardware and software, and video-based and on-site interpreting services. The business has grown from a handful of employees to more than 240, with most workers hearing-impaired. Last year, Viable was named one of The Gazette of Politics and Business' Exceptional 53 businesses and nonprofits.
 
Robert L. Mason's report:

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Why the FBI Looked Into Viable's Rate Billing Trail?

Why the FBI Looked into the Viable, Inc's Rate Billing Trail? That was probably the routine FBI investigation covering the interested party. One of my friend within DC area sent me the e-msg without any in-depth explaination. I deleted my friend's name and email address to protect the reporter's source.

Here is the email message -

Viable is not a certified VRS provider that can bill directly to NECA/FCC, Instead Viable used CACVRS to bill for their VRS services)

Who is the CAC? I checked out that was the Communication Access Center based in Flint, Michigan. The CAC office also existed in Indiana. The CAC usually provided the technical services to various telecommunication facilities.

That explained why the FBI got its pique about the Viable, Inc's so-called questionable rate
trail which the Viable, Inc. headquarter people probably had nothing to do with any unethical relay billing practices.

The Viable, Inc., had fully cooperated with the FBI to sort out the rate billing issues.
 
You are right. If you will wait to answer VI coming in less than 2 minutes, hang up then call VRS again

This is not the fastest way to get an interpreter. When you hang up, you are sent to "the back of the line" again. So that just means the person who dialed after you will instead get your place.

The ony time you want to hang up is if you have technical problems, like somehow your internet connection got disrupted but your VP kept an unstable connection to VRS.
 
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