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IP Relay Misuse
By advocacy | February 9, 2007
The NAD and other consumer advocacy group representatives have been meeting with relay service providers and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address concerns about IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams. IP Relay is misused by people who are not deaf or hard of hearing. Those people use IP Relay to engage in fraudulent and scam business transactions. We have been trying to find ways to reduce or eliminate IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams, but the issues are complex. For example, the deaf and hard of hearing community may be willing to consider registering for IP Relay services, but someone first needs to identify a registration system that would be centralized, relatively convenient for relay users, and, most importantly, effectively reduce or eliminate IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams. No such registration system exists today.
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On January 26, 2006, we met with United States Senate staff members who were interested to learn more about Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS). TRS is intended to provide functionally equivalent telecommunication services for members of the deaf and hard of hearing community, as well as for people with speech disabilities. Today, TRS enables communication with telephone users through the use of TTYs and through the Internet via computers, videophones, and mobile devices. We also talked about IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams. We believe actual or reported IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams hurt the deaf and hard of hearing community. Many businesses refuse to conduct any business with anyone who calls through any relay service (TTY, IP Relay, Video Relay Services, and others). Businesses discriminate against deaf and hard of hearing consumers when they do not accept relay calls. We believe refusing to accept a relay call violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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All things considered, we are convinced that outreach efforts must be made to inform and educate businesses about fraud and scam prevention, the importance and benefits of TRS, and the ADA legal obligation to conduct business with consumers who use relay services. We will be meeting again with the FCC to discuss ways to raise awareness in the business community about IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams, and advise the business community not to hang up on legitimate relay calls. We expect that FCC outreach efforts will be joined by and collaborated with other agencies that provide information, education, and outreach to businesses about fraud and scam prevention (i.e., Federal Trade Commission, Small Business Administration, etc.), TRS, and the ADA (i.e., U.S. Department of Justice).
Topics: General |
February 9th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
“The NAD”…who were they?
Thank-you
February 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Businesses discriminate against deaf and hard of hearing consumers when they do not accept relay calls that why i had hard time for many years when first time USE relay callsTHEN THEY KEEP HANG UP MOST TIME HAD HARDSHIP FIND PLACE TO LIVE IN HOME FOR RENT AND LOOKINGMAKE CALL FOR JOBS AND LEAVE APPCATION TO USE REALY THEN CALL MY PHONE NUMBER THEY DO NOT FOLLOW MY APPCATION FOR JOB THAT I WANT TO WORK MANY KINDS TROBLE WITH ( DEAFLIFE NOT EASY WORLD) THAT WHY HEARING PEOPLE DO NOT EVEN LEARN ABOUT DEAF WORLD NOT FAST SERICE SPANISH PEOPLE ARE HEARING MORE BETTER ERVICE REALY AND POST
LANGUAGE WHY NOT DEAF GET POST OUR LANUAGE AND NOT FAIR HEARING PEOPLE NOT EVEN CARE ABOUT DEAF ,SWORLD REALY NEED UP DATE INFORMATION LIKE I CALL WATER COMPANY TO ABOUT BILL SO THEY KEEP ON HANG UP ON ME FOR PHONE CALL OR VIDEO PHONE STILL NOT WORKING FOR US AND GET MORE HARD SHIP ALL ABOUT THAT WHY I WANT TELL YOU THAT I HAD BEEN LOTS TIME . THANK YOU DEAF WOLF78
February 20th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I think it is time to have nationwide registration to protect ourselves and businesses from further scams. Look at Federal Relay Service run by SPRINT, they require caller to identify themselves and maybe his work id nbr. before making call thru them.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:54 am
IP calls disguise the voice and cannot be traced, making it a powerful tool for criminals. They are EXPERTS in appearing legitimate and getting around technical and procedural blocks put in place.
Asking businesses to treat all calls the same, and learn to identify fraud better, doesn’t help. From their viewpoint, the non-traceable nature of IP adds a huge risk. Imagine a flood of IP calls that are 90% fraud. Trying to prevent financial loss, not only from the scams themselves but also from the time it takes to identify and handle them, inevitably results in unintentional discrimination. The law can be used to force compliance. But at what cost? A resentful business community?
The larger and less vocal group of victims are people selling items through newspaper ads or seeking mates through personals. Professional con artists know how to gain their confidence. No education can prevent that. Once scammed, these victims tell family and friends who in turn refuse to take ANY relay call. Without a lobby, you never hear from these people.
Scams are not the only problem. Eventually a teenager will call in a bomb threat to a school, a molestor will call his victim, or some other horrible thing will happen. Then what?
The full extent of this crime magnet will never be known because IP providers have a financial incentive to hide the problem and keep it going. Only when the Reasonable Deaf Majority overrules the “we can handle it” IP Providers and the “rights at any cost” Deaf Extremists, will something get done. Either IP users will have to register or IP will get shut down.
Keep advocating the status quo and the hearing majority will, down the road, become fed up and force change. I pray the damage to relay won’t be permanent at that point.
March 23rd, 2007 at 6:42 pm
The only IP Relay calls I’ve ever gotten have been scams. I’ve gone so far as to accept a credit card for merchandise from one scammer, but called it in to my CC transaction company, who contacted the issuer of the card and we were able to shut down that card number.
ASK QUESTIONS!
GET NAMES, ADDRESSES and email BEFORE CONTINUING THE CALL. If it’s legitimate, the caller will cooperate.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:40 am
Ip relay is geared for the hearing impared. But not ONLY for the hearing impared. Read the terms of use. I have friends with sidekicks that use iprelay because they have no other phone and can’t afford phone service, and they depend on the service, and I guess at the point they change the terms of use they will stop
I agree that we need to do something about the scammers, but its bigger than ip relay, how many of you have received emails? Or even real phone calls? We all depend on this service.
September 27th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Hi,
My first experience recently is when I ordered an incorrect item. I called to get a return merchandise number but the other person explained that she was not allowed to use relays because of frauds. I was miffed.
Yesterday I travelled a long way to a discount eyewear store and had to set up an appointment because it was required. Earlier I called but was hung up.
I enjoy this blog about relays and frauds. I agree that we need to set up a registration system.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:54 am
I recently put an add in the newspaper about some puppies I had for sale. It only took one day to receive an IP relay call. At first I thought this to be an actual person who was truly interested in my puppies, not hanging up because I thought this person was really interested. Then I received an e-mail about how the transaction needed to take place. They wanted me to ship my puppy to NY, let’s just say a big journey for a little puppy. The ironic thing is that the more I read this e-mail he wanted all my information, and was going to send me an extra $100.00 for my trouble. Oh and let’s not forget that he mentioned some kind of agent (go between) person who was in France. Im sssoooo mad that these people take advantage of a service not intended for them. They do not consider the fact that there are poeple who rely on this service, in my opinion the operator’s are also being used. Something has to be done. By the way it’s only been 5 days that my add has been in the paper, I’ve now gotten 4 IP relay call’s, all different names. What are the odd’s that this would happen? And from people who don not even live close enough to drive over & see what they would purchasing….
October 30th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I placed an ad to sell a couch and got an IP Relay call and made the mistake of getting an email address from the person and giving them mine. They actually sent a check even after I told them no when my head kicked in and realized why buy a couch and ship it a long ways? Anyways, after multiple IP relay calls I told the person that I had turned over the check to the police and that their scam had been reported to the Postal Inspector. I did do this and suddenly caller disconnects! I am angry that these thieves are taking advantage of IP Relay Service and that is causing suffering for those who truly are hearing impaired/deaf and need the vital service.