Computer Dialer Fraud

The cost of surfing the Internet may be unauthorized phone bills to a foreign country.

I'm Shirley Rooker for the Federal Trade Commission.

The long distance phone bill arrived from a company other than his designated carrier and was for $178 to international numbers.

The charges were for the line dedicated to the computer. Doug went into the Internet files on the computer and found a silent interloper - a dialer - that seized control of the phone line and enabled an outsider to use the line for international calls.

He contacted the phone company that sent the bill and they dropped the charges. In addition, he contacted his designated long distance carrier and asked for a block on international calls.

Unfortunately, Doug was unable to determine which website had placed this dialer on his computer. However, his case should be an alert to all of us who do web surfing. Perhaps you should take the precaution of blocking international calls so it doesn’t happen to you.

I'm Shirley Rooker, director of WTOP radio's Call For Action for the Federal Trade Commission.

January 2002