New IP Relay Operator's forum warning against Relay Scams!

[operatorhere]

Hello everyone! I'm new here, and I wanted to come here and invite everyone from alldeaf.com to the brand new IP Relay Operator's Forum.

Our goal at the new website is to combat all the Nigerian scams that are trashing your relay service! We would love to have some input from you, as users of the service. The operators there are looking forward to seeing you. In case anyone remembers the old site, it's been abandoned, so we have created a brand new one. A big goal of our site is to gain your input and insights on these scams and how we can work together to stop them.

Hope to see you there!

Regards, Operatorhere
http://relayscams.aimoo.com/

 

[operatorhere]

I just wanted to give this a bump so it doesn't get buried and everyone gets the invite. Hope to see you there!

P.S. You guys have the best smiley faces! They're so funny!

 

[Roadrunner]

Thank you for allowing 'members' here to participate with RO's in the site you mentioned of...look me up eventually.


(btw, moved this thread to the appropriate section--)



~RR

 

[Theseus]

Congratulations and good job on the new website.

One time I called a bookstore and they hung up on me because they had encountered some Nigerian scam callers thru relay. They no longer accepted relay calls. I tried calling the bookstore several times, even instructing the opr to not accounce relay but to say specifically what I had in mind. The bookstore person looked up the book then the next time I had to type something (a 'delay') the line went *click*.

I showed up at the bookstore and asked for the manager. Discovered it was the manager who had handled the call and she explained they'd received scam calls via the relay. I had to tell her I was forced to drive 25 minutes and ask if they had the book, and she apologized. She called all the B. Dalton and Waldenbooks bookstores within proximity and instructed them to accept relay calls from the deaf.

It is not only the relay centers that may need a little change in policy of handling scam calls, but other businesses.

 

[Roadrunner]

Congratulations and good job on the new website.

One time I called a bookstore and they hung up on me because they had encountered some Nigerian scam callers thru relay. They no longer accepted relay calls. I tried calling the bookstore several times, even instructing the opr to not accounce relay but to say specifically what I had in mind. The bookstore person looked up the book then the next time I had to type something (a 'delay') the line went *click*.

I showed up at the bookstore and asked for the manager. Discovered it was the manager who had handled the call and she explained they'd received scam calls via the relay. I had to tell her I was forced to drive 25 minutes and ask if they had the book, and she apologized. She called all the B. Dalton and Waldenbooks bookstores within proximity and instructed them to accept relay calls from the deaf.

It is not only the relay centers that may need a little change in policy of handling scam calls, but other businesses.

Good point and well noted....

 

[operatorhere]

Congratulations and good job on the new website.

One time I called a bookstore and they hung up on me because they had encountered some Nigerian scam callers thru relay. They no longer accepted relay calls. I tried calling the bookstore several times, even instructing the opr to not accounce relay but to say specifically what I had in mind. The bookstore person looked up the book then the next time I had to type something (a 'delay') the line went *click*.

I showed up at the bookstore and asked for the manager. Discovered it was the manager who had handled the call and she explained they'd received scam calls via the relay. I had to tell her I was forced to drive 25 minutes and ask if they had the book, and she apologized. She called all the B. Dalton and Waldenbooks bookstores within proximity and instructed them to accept relay calls from the deaf.

It is not only the relay centers that may need a little change in policy of handling scam calls, but other businesses.

I am SO sorry to hear you had to go through this. Unfortunately, It's happening everywhere. This is why I do what I do in trying to draw attention to this problem. I am no longer an operator (as of the end of April), but when I was, it happened every day that businesses would hang up after telling a deaf person that they don't take Relay calls, because "they're all scams". I have been working so hard trying to get this to the attention of the media. I can think of no other way to get people to take notice of the problem. People and businesses need to know that ALL relay calls are not scams.... unfortunately, the message is not yet getting across.

It's not for a lack of trying. The operators that are at our forum, plus (I'm sure) many others that I don't even know about, are working very hard to educate the public in general about the scams, and ALSO about Relay being a legitimate service that is needed by the Deaf, HOH, and SD people!

There is good news. Some relay companies now have policies in place for when the operator KNOWS it's a scam call. (I know for sure that MCI/Verizon does it). The operator has certain criteria that they look for to determine a scam, and then a supervisor will warn the person on the phone to take caution in doing business with the person. At that point the business will usually hang up. At least it stops people from being ripped off, and another result is that the Nigerians use that particular relay company less and less often. The scam calls have dropped dramatically since they started warning people.

I hope to see you over at the new site, and thanks for the compliment. It's nice to have the new board up and running. It's very refreshing, since the old place got abandoned and people just stopped using it due to the poor operational decisions of the owner.

 

[Fly Free]

i have checked out ur RO forum and would register there eventually LOL

its time we unite together to educate the public on relay services and that NOT all calls are scams -- i know im tired of being hung up on whenever i need to make a call via relay

 

[LuciaDisturbed]

Hello everyone! I'm new here, and I wanted to come here and invite everyone from alldeaf.com to the brand new IP Relay Operator's Forum.

Our goal at the new website is to combat all the Nigerian scams that are trashing your relay service! We would love to have some input from you, as users of the service. The operators there are looking forward to seeing you. In case anyone remembers the old site, it's been abandoned, so we have created a brand new one. A big goal of our site is to gain your input and insights on these scams and how we can work together to stop them.

Hope to see you there!

Regards, Operatorhere
http://relayscams.aimoo.com/

I need to say that your forum is a bit hard to read because of the background...it would really help if your background was a little more plain, just a solid light color...it is kind of giving me a headache trying to read the threads.

But otherwise, great website!

 

[Theseus]

I am SO sorry to hear you had to go through this. Unfortunately, It's happening everywhere. This is why I do what I do in trying to draw attention to this problem. I am no longer an operator (as of the end of April), but when I was, it happened every day that businesses would hang up after telling a deaf person that they don't take Relay calls, because "they're all scams". I have been working so hard trying to get this to the attention of the media. I can think of no other way to get people to take notice of the problem. People and businesses need to know that ALL relay calls are not scams.... unfortunately, the message is not yet getting across.

It's not for a lack of trying. The operators that are at our forum, plus (I'm sure) many others that I don't even know about, are working very hard to educate the public in general about the scams, and ALSO about Relay being a legitimate service that is needed by the Deaf, HOH, and SD people!

There is good news. Some relay companies now have policies in place for when the operator KNOWS it's a scam call. (I know for sure that MCI/Verizon does it). The operator has certain criteria that they look for to determine a scam, and then a supervisor will warn the person on the phone to take caution in doing business with the person. At that point the business will usually hang up. At least it stops people from being ripped off, and another result is that the Nigerians use that particular relay company less and less often. The scam calls have dropped dramatically since they started warning people.

I hope to see you over at the new site, and thanks for the compliment. It's nice to have the new board up and running. It's very refreshing, since the old place got abandoned and people just stopped using it due to the poor operational decisions of the owner.

It's great you have this site up so everyone can learn what countermeasures are being taken about these scammers. In another thread two days ago here at AD, I read about a similar incident as mine. What was similar is that the manager at the bookstore I called had said the exact same words, "We do not accept relay calls." When I showed up, she was very surprised and shaken about it. She said that my phone number had not shown up on the caller's id and then I explained that there were two different types of relay. There is the state relay which works through the telephone line and shows the number calling through. Then there is IP-relay which does not show caller id and is accessed by scammers. I explained this thoroughly to her and she said she understood.

However, as TDD-users begin disconnecting their telephone lines and use IP-relay more frequently, there won't be phone numbers showing up on the caller ids of different businesses. Businesses make the poor inference that it's a scam call by not understanding why IP-relay was designed in the first place: to provide deaf people with a way to communicate on the telephone to hearing people. This is somewhat because we live in a predominantly hearing world and anyone who is on the other end of the line listening to the operator can easily take things for granted. Why would (or should) they think otherwise? They may have never met any deaf people before. It doesn't automatically register in their head that a deaf person may be calling unless they really think about it. They automatically think of two things when they think of the relay: scam callers or telemarketers, but rarely deaf people. Even when the operator explains what relay is about, they may think it seems conspicious and hang up. If I'm lucky, the person may be smart enough to wait until I say something before hanging up. But too often, the other person just takes things for granted and hangs up.

That's my experience with several people I have called. As for informing the general public, the media is probably the best way via the news or the Web. I'm not sure as I don't normally watch the news (I should), but have they ever talked about the relay on the news? They should do a report on the two different relays out there: TTY relay and IP-relay. They should also talk about this on the radio.

Just my two cents.

 

[operatorhere]

Hello again everyone. I just wanted to pop in and see how you all were doing.
In response to theseus's last post, about the media, I thought I'd let you know what we're doing on that front. There are several of us former and current operators that are working with producers at a major TV network, and a Cable news network. We are trying to bring this to the forefront of the media. There have been many online and print articles written, but as far as I know, there has never been an "expose" TV show on the world of Nigerian scam, and the abuse of IP Relay. It's such an alarming problem, many of us can't understand why it isn't getting any attention.

One thing that keeps coming up as a barrier is that so many victims refuse to talk to the media. I speak to victims on a regular basis. Because I am no longer an operator, and I'm not putting my job at risk by calling potential victims. We have a networking system where one current operator will take a scam call, and collect the phone number of the would-be victim, and pass it along to me. I will then call them and warn them of the scam. When I ask them, though, if they'd be willing to tell their story to someone in the media, (even anonymously) the answer is almost always NO.

At this point, I want to tell you that no operator would EVER take any personal information of a legitimate caller... or anyone, for that matter, other than a Nigerian Scammer. Operators can tell a Nigerian scammer with 100% certainty, as they all seem to follow the same "script" per se. They definetely are identifiable without any doubt. So please don't worry about your information with the operators. We are thrilled just to get a legitimate call of any kind. We see so many scams, that the legitimate user is the exception now, not the rule.

Back to the topic. If you ever want to tell your story to the media, about how you were refused service in any matter because you used relay, please come to the forum: Relay Operator Resource: Nigerian Scams, Deaf Issues, Etc. and post about it. You can also email me, if you're not comfortable posting it on an open forum. My email address is: operatorhere@yahoo.com At the forum, there is a section called "Victims of Fraud". We would appreciate you even posting your views about it at our site. But we are in need of REAL people who have been affected by this. You, the deaf community, are the true victims of all of this. It's not just the people who are being scammed. Your service is being abused, and we hope we can put a stop to it. With your help, it would happen faster than without it.

Hope to see everyone there! Thanks for reading this incredibly LONGGGGGG rambling post! I have so much on my mind today..

Regards,
Operatorhere

 

[zeroality]

I've been hung up on before and even had a relay operator treat ME like I was scamming them, when I tried to call Compaq for replacement Windows XP installation discs.

That frustrated me so much that I switched to another relay service but it's great to see stuff like this being brought up.

I'm glad that you care!

 

[operatorhere]

I've been hung up on before and even had a relay operator treat ME like I was scamming them QUOTE]

Hello Zeroality! I'm sorry that happened to you. I can only hope that it wasn't really the operator that was trying to treat you that way... the actualy merchants are the ones who treat people suspiciously with relay these days. Operators don't normally inject themselves into a callers business... they try to just relay what they hear, so maybe it was Compaq that was being rude? I guess you'd know better than I would.. But I am glad you found a company that works for you and it's meeting your standards. Thanks for the reply! Operatorhere