[Ecommerce] spam call scam 2

[Takeshi Muramoto]

After the regulation related to spam mail scam,
offenders are going to sift to phone scam.

Takeshi Muramoto

NTT units plot 'wangiri' crackdown
The Japan Times: Aug. 2, 2002
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020802b5.htm

NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. plan to stiffen the terms of their
telephone service contracts to prevent phone callback scams known as
"wangiri" from paralyzing their networks, company officials said Thursday.
The boards of the two regional Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. carriers
have approved the new terms, the officials said.
The two NTT subsidiaries will next ask the Public Management, Home Affairs,
Posts and Telecommunications Ministry for approval.
Often perpetrated by pornographic telephone services, wangiri calls ring
only once, but because the caller's number remains on a recipient's cell
phone display, it induces the receiver to return the call.
The return call is then usually connected to a taped sexual message or
information on other types of adult entertainment, and those who stay
connected are usually charged huge fees.
The term "wangiri" derives from combining the English word "one," pronounced
"wan," and the Japanese word "kiru," meaning "to cut off."
Using electronic devices, wangiri scams place thousands of random calls per
minute to mobile phones.
On Monday, NTT West's phone services were disrupted in all of Osaka
Prefecture and Amagasaki in neighboring Hyogo Prefecture due to a massive
number of wangiri calls by a single operator.
NTT West suspended connection lines to the firm after complaints about the
disruption began pouring in at around 10 a.m.
NTT West said the massive influx of wangiri calls disrupted services to 5.16
million ordinary phone subscribers in the area. Telephone service in the
area returned to normal at 2:44 p.m.
The proposed revisions to the contracts would empower the NTT firms to
suspend connection services to unscrupulous callers who make a massive
number of calls with full knowledge that this could disrupt phone networks.
But NTT officials said a provision allowing them to cancel contracts with
wangiri operators will probably not be added to the contract revisions.
Callback firm blocked
OSAKA -- NTT West Corp. temporarily blocked the Osaka-based operator of a
phone callback scam from using its telephone network Thursday out of concern
that the thousands of calls that were being placed could again overload the
system.
The operator, based in Kita Ward, was blamed for the paralysis that struck
NTT West's network July 15. It was found to have used 216 lines to place
more than 4,000 calls every three minutes for most of the day.
This prompted NTT West to reduce the number of calls going through its
switchboards by a maximum of 50 percent. This affected thousands of phones
in the Kansai region.
NTT West issued a warning to the "wangiri" perpetrator, but it once again
disrupted phone lines Monday, prompting NTT West to temporarily freeze
services.
On Thursday, NTT West took action before its system was overloaded after
seeing the same operator had begun another round of calls at a rate of about
6,500 calls every three minutes starting around 7 a.m.
Although the operator reduced the number of calls it was placing from around
10 a.m. to some 500 every three minutes, NTT West determined there was
danger of the system being overloaded again and temporarily stopped its
services.