     _________________
    /\__\_______\_____\  -=*iTS*=-
   / /  /__   __/  ___/  The Internal Theft Syndicate
  / /  // /  / /__   /   TITS/The Intuitive Textfile Series
  \/__/ \/__/\/_____/    Phreaker Safety


ITSPS01.TXT
1-800-PH-SAFE/Phreaker's Safety Tip:


There is strength in numbers
----------------------------

In our growing society, obtaining free long distance is becoming more and
more of a problem to long distance companies.  They are spending millions
to help stamp out telephone fraud.  They are losing millions of dollars in
revenue to phreakers and hackers who outwit the telephone companies plans.

Rather than continue to lose millions of dollars of profit to phreakers,
telephone companies now, more often, are holding businesses responsible for
their OWN telephone losses.  Companies who experience PBX fraud now are
having to pay most of the losses out of their own pockets.  There is even
telephone fraud INSURANCE to help cover companies losses.

This means good news for the small time hacker/phreaker.  Since the millions
of dollars assocated with large telephone companies will no longer be
available to help stamp out telephone fraud, it has now become safer to
hack free long distance, and since small businesses now will be able to
have insurance cover the losses, they will spend less time and money to
catch the phreakers.

Contrary to popular belief, the computer hacker is NOT the major cause of
losses to telephone companies.  The non-computer phreaker uses up to ten
times more free long distance than does the computer phreaker.  This, also,
is good news for computer users.  It is estimated that almost 10% of all
calls placed from New York City and Los Angeles are fraudulent.  Almost HALF
of all cellular telephone calls place from NYC are fraudulent.

Who is making all of these phree calls?  Drug dealers, mafia, and fraudulent
businesses.  Often it is safer for drug dealers and mafia to make calls that
are hacked, rather than using their own lines, which may be tapped.

It has become BIG business in Los Angeles for street vendors to sell hot
telephone credit card numbers to others for as much as $100 per code.
Immagrants frequently buy the codes by the thousands to call friends or
family in far-away lands.  This is no secret to Long Distance companies, and
they frequently write off all of this activity as a total loss.

It is so common in New York now that the New York Telephone companies do NOT
allow credit card calls to be made from payphones in busy areas, for fear of
fraud.

What does all this mean to me?  Well, what you need to do, if you plan on
using hacked long distance service, is this:

1.  Make it appear to the telephone companies that what they have on their
    hands is another case of a stolen credit card in Los Angeles or New
    York.  How?  Make sure that your codes are distributed.  Chances are
    they will find their way to LA or NY.  Post it on a major board in one
    of those cities.  You will have better luck in LA, since there are more
    elite BBSs there.

2.  Do not be the first to use the code.  Most investigations of long distance
    abuse start with the FIRST person to use the code.  They assume that this
    is the person who hacked or stole the codes.  After it is distributed,
    the code frequently gets used thousands of times before it is shut down.
    Companies do not have enough time or money to investigate users that
    appear further down on the 'chain.'

3.  Be safe.  Don't use codes for longer than a week. If it has not been shut
    down by then, it could mean that there is an investigation in progress.
    Don't be a victim!

We hope you have enjoyed this iTS textfile, and I personally hope that you
find the information of value.

All iTS textfiles are intended for public awareness only.  They are not
intended as instructional material.

Devine Intervention [iTS Writer]
The Interloper [iTS Researcher]

12-92
