Term Tuesday - a version of 'advance-fee' fraud

This example was provided by Mitchell Hellman, a former coworker

Background
AT&T offers several free services for people with hearing related disabilities, details are available at http://relayservices.att.com/, this service is funded by the FCC.

IM Relay is a solution for individuals who are Deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have speech loss. Request a phone number to be dialed and a AT&T Relay operator calls the phone number and translates the text to voice to the other party. There is no charge to use this service, but all users must register first.

Aside from using IM relay on PC or MACs, IM relay is accessible wherever there is AIM. Today, many mobile devices support AOL Instant Messenger applications. Just send the phone number you want to dial to the screen name  "ATTRelay" and you can make calls on the go. Remember, there is no charge to use IM relay, but if you use a mobile device to access IM relay please check with your service provider to see if there may be any applicable data fees. 

Real world example

I own and operate the oldest gelato shop in New Mexico. Apparently, some people think that this makes me easy prey, but (so far) all attempts to victimize me have failed.

An article in the NY Times, "AT&T Accused of Improperly Billing for Service for Deaf," about a fraud tactic that has been tried on me numerous times without success. I've been getting calls from fraudsters on the average of one every couple of weeks. They are attempting a version of 'advance-fee' fraud: they masquerade as someone interested in buying a large quantity of product (since some directories, etc. consider me to be a restaurant, the fraud often involves ordering common items such as club sandwiches or box lunches), they obtain a price from the victim, then send a check or credit card number to use as payment. The payment is for a larger amount than the quoted price; they tell the victim to send the overage back to them, often by Western Union (which is virtually impossible to trace). The victim deposits the check or enters the credit card info, sends back the overage-- and the fraudster disappears; the payment turns out to be bogus, and the victim is on the hook to the bank to pay them the money that went to the fraudster.

What this has to do with the relay service mentioned in the article is:

1. Since the victim never speaks to the fraudster, the victim can't hear the fraudster's accent...which might make him/her suspicious. 
2. The fraudster gains the victim's sympathy, because the victim believes that the party he/she is dealing with is deaf. 
3. The slow pace of the communication often means that the victim doesn't want to take a lot of time asking questions about the fraudster's bonafides. 

 Keep in mind that, because of the Communications Act of 1938, the operators who are relaying the conversation can not discuss any of this with the party on the receiving end of one of these calls... even when they are certain that the call is bogus.

The way I have been dealing with these calls lately is to tell the operator to relay the following:

"This is . Because of the high incidence of fraudulent relay calls that we have received, before we can continue, your call will be traced back to its source. Please stand by..."

They hang up pretty quickly after that. Of course no such trace is taking place, but they don't know that, and can't take the chance. Looks like they're not the only ones telling a little white lie, huh. :)