A relay call I received today.

[Shalom]

[Coworker takes a call, tells me it's a relay. I tell him I'll take it; he passes me the phone. I had almost word for word the same call a couple weeks ago, with one notable exception;]

Operator: "This is IP relay service operator ### (goes through introductory spiel) Say ‶Go Ahead″ when you're ready."

Me: "Go ahead."

Operator: " ‶This is [some bogus name, I forgot already], how are you today. Do you sell diabetic test strips, such as Accu-Check Aviva?″ "

Me: "Yes, we do, but we sell them for cash only. We do not accept credit cards."

[follows some confusion because I didn't say ‶Go Ahead″; the operator explains that I have to say this before she will transmit]

Me: "Go ahead."

(silence)

Operator: " ‶S.K.″ Caller disconnected. This is IP relay (whatever), have a nice day."

Of course I knew what SK means thanks to a recent thread here, but I wasn't expecting the relay operator to relay that part...

[Amina516]

Pwned.

I cant believe people will make a scam out of anything!

[Spork4pedro]

hmm..I either missed that thread or just having a blonde moment...what does S.K. mean?

[MaggieTheCat]

I think I missed something here too. I thought SK stood for Stop Keying, which the relay operator probably didn't need to relay, but either way I don't understand how this was a scam. Could you explain please?

[Sleepwalker]

They buy them with a stolen cc to resell once they get them.

[Mr Hero]

What's SK? You're spelling it wrong if it's "Sucky Kustomer"

[Shalom]

The last one of these scams I got is at http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=64297. Basically they order thousands of dollars worth of goods, have you ship them overseas, and then their credit card turns out stolen or otherwise bogus. When this scam first surfaced, they were asking for Centrum Silver or other expensive vitamins and OTC meds, but they migrated to test strips pretty quickly. There was also a thread at http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=56374 where someone tried to buy 36 gaming consoles.

They use the relay service because they're untraceable that way, or think they are. The funny thing about this one is that as soon as they heardsaw "no credit cards", they dropped the call, which is of course why I said it in the first place; why waste the operator's time haggling over a transaction which both parties to the call know perfectly well is BS, when she could be helping someone who really needs it?

(Typing SK with no preceding text is like a hearing SC hanging up on you, in my opinion. I still think it's funny that the operator actually said it.)

[sirwired]

The part I still don't understand about the scam is why on earth they'd be calling retail pharmacies to attempt the scam? What regular retail pharmacy with a storefront does mailorder for anything at all?

SirWired

[Whiskey]

The part I still don't understand about the scam is why on earth they'd be calling retail pharmacies to attempt the scam? What regular retail pharmacy with a storefront does mailorder for anything at all?

SirWired

TONS of them. I'm surprised the FTC hasn't cracked down on this harder. When I was an Operator we'd have people buying ANY size bowling shoe from American companies. Three grand worth of shoes. It just sounds like too much of a profit for them to think "Okay if this is a scam.." so they just do it. They call EVERYONE in an attempt to make a sale, its not just pharmacies or retail outlets.

SK is "hang up"
Go Ahead (GA) means the person speaking/typing is finished.

and the operator probably only said SK because its apparently the OP knows its a relay scam and they're being told to hang up nowwwwww.

[smileyeagle1021]

Shalom, for a while I forgot where you worked and was about to say that I'm sorry based on the title
But then you mentioned that the bass ackward company they used still requires go ahead.
Though I will say that the only time really a relay operator should include stop keying (if they are using GA) is "go ahead to stop keying" which is an indication to wrap it up because the deaf user intends to disconnect once you finish your response ( most common is something like, "I'll see you tomorrow, love you, bye. Go ahead to stop keying")

eta- the scammers like to use relay not just because it is untraceable (or so they think) but because it helps hide things like accent (if you are using a stolen card from Isoroku Yamamoto you likely will get caught if you have a middle eastern accent giving away the fact that you likely aren't Mr. Yamamoto).

[MoonCat]

Oh sh*t.

We have several people advertising that they are buying diabetic test strips...which I thought you had to have a prescription to buy at all, BTW. Now I suspect there's some scam behind this, if they're trying to resell them. I wonder if the cards they're using to buy the ads are stolen cards??

Re: Relay, the only time we get relay calls anymore is when someone is trying to pull a scam. Most of them are for ads to sell English Bulldog puppies, but sometimes it's a scam car ad or a scam job ad. I feel bad for the operators because they have to complete the call. It's also illegal for a company to refuse to accept a relay call, so we have to actually take the call, and then stop the proceedings politely (I usually tell them we only accept these ads by fax. Then they hang up.)

[draftermatt]

The pharmacy has a sign up now (sometime in the last month) that any/all diabetic testing supplies sales will require proof of medical need.

It's a shame what some people can accomplish from being crooks.

[smileyeagle1021]

draftermatt, you have no idea...
relay fraud is the reason that you can no longer place phone orders at Best Buy.
I was amused yesterday by a Best Buy employee who really was getting bitchy. She was going on about, we all no this guy is a fraudster, why the hell don't you just block him...
Well ma'am, because y'all keep shutting him down before he can do something stupid enough that I can red flag his account. Don't bitch at me that you are doing your job too well. As far as the FCC is concerned, if you are capable of detecting the fraud by yourself, we are not to interfere (remember, we are supposed to be neutral interpreters).
Oh and reading me back the spiel about how some hearing users abuse relay will not win you points in my book, I am staring at the script for that as we speak just waiting for the scammer to do something stupid. You really want to do something to stop these people, don't tell us that you think the person is a scammer, drag them along to give them a chance to hang themselves (be it through getting enough information to file a police report yourself or by getting them to violate relay rules and get them blocked).

[Shalom]

Oh sh*t.

We have several people advertising that they are buying diabetic test strips...which I thought you had to have a prescription to buy at all, BTW.

You don't need a prescription to buy strips in the USA, unless you want your insurance to pay for them.

Now I suspect there's some scam behind this, if they're trying to resell them. I wonder if the cards they're using to buy the ads are stolen cards??

It does sound like some illegality is being committed, but it's more likely to be on the part of the sellers, not the buyers: they probably got those strips from their insurance company, or from Medicaid (i.e. you and I paid for them), and are reselling them for cash, which is a big no-no. I'm not sure what the buyers' legal status is here; conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, perhaps. They could argue that they didn't know the strips were stolen (or at least distributed with the condition of not being resold), but I don't know if a judge would believe that.

[Dave1982]

(if you are using a stolen card from Isoroku Yamamoto you likely will get caught if you have a middle eastern accent giving away the fact that you likely aren't Mr. Yamamoto).

Not to mention the fact that he died in 1943 when his plane was shot down by a P-38 Lightning.