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Anarchist Phone Pranks: Vol III.
"Special Operator #337, may I help you please?"
Written by: The 0mega & Electronic Rebel 04/06/86
Introduction:
Volume III at last! Well, this one will be the most fun to write, and
will probably prove most useful to you. Fun is fun, and revenge is sweet, but
there's more to pranking than you may realize. If you're an experienced
cranker, then by the end of this article, you should realize that you can do
alot with that gift you have of Bullshitting people!
Before I go any further, I have to acknowledge Electronic Rebel's uncanny
skill. He's given birth to most of these scams, and is more resourceful,
verbally adept, and knowledgable than anyone I have ever met...a true Master.
Now, down to business. . .
To quote the Metallian: "There are MANY, MANY absolutely stupid people in
this world...that will believe anything if you sound professional, which is
always the key..." I cannot emphasize that enough. Feel free to experiment
with scams; what people don't know, they won't expect, especially if you catch
them off guard. People are so unaware, you can get away with anything (as
you'll soon see). If you sound like you know what you are talking about, and
that you have the situation under control, everything will work smoothly.
The Birth of an Idea:
One particular trick Rebel came up with for screwing with people's minds
was the 'Operator' trick. For some reason, people have deep-seated phobia's
towards operators. Perhaps because they have 'unseen' powers, and because
they
are apart of something as mysterious and generally misunderstood as 'The Phone
Company'. Whatever the reason, ignorance and that fear play a part of the
'Operator' scam, when people are abruptly confronted.
Basically, in it's unperfected form, the scam went like this - Rebel
would call someone at random, and when they answered, he would say:
"Special Operator #337, may I help you please?" as if they had called him!
People immediately fell in the trap. Dazed, they would respond with,
"Huh? I didn't call the operator...You called me." Confusion!
"I didn't call you. Are you sure you didn't call the operator, or that your
line wasn't forwarded to me?" he would ask.
"No, I'm sure."
"Hmmm, well, we have been having problems with the lines. It's possible a
line was crossed..." Many times, people would agree with you, saying how the
had noticed bad connections and 'wierd things'. You know the phone co.
They're
always having probs!
Usually, it ended here. He would tell the person that he would arrange
for GTE to come over and check the lines and repair them if necessary, "We'll
send over Chris So-and-so tomorrow between 1:00 and 4:00 PM" (I believe by law
phone co. personell have to identify themselves to you), and they would thank
him. Of course, no one ever came. And that was the end of the gag.
Then, it started taking shape. One time, we told a guy GTE would gladly
check and repair the lines. He was a little hesitant, until we told him there
would be no charge. So then, we called up GTE, and told them we were him, and
we wanted a second phone line put in ($120 installation, $35 monthly!) and to
send a van over. Well, they wouldn't quite do anything without a driver's
license for verification. So, we called the dude back, and told him we needed
his driver's license for the records. A bit of a lame excuse, but it worked,
so we called GTE back and got someone different than who we had last talked
to,
and got 'em to send over the repairman! I can just imagine them putting in
the
line, and the dude thinking they're repairing it! "That'll be $120 please!"
Yup!
The Plot Thickens:
About that time, we were looking for some modem lines. "The school
district's computer number would be nice to have around the end of the
quarter," we thought, and it was a number no one had yet. The passwords and
account names were easy enough to get, and we already had them. What better
way to get the school's number (or any number, really!) than to bullshit the
idiots who answer the phone at school with this scam, and see how far we could
get! Their IQ's weren't much higher than common household plants.
We formulated the perfect scam. Then, we set up Ascii Express on
Vision's
][+, and enabled key-clicks on (this really makes it more realistic!) and
turned on one of those big old fans (like the kind they have in big, stuffy,
GTE offices). We even had an old filing cabinet handy where we could
occaisionally pull drawers in and out to make it sound more office-like. It
would sound just like an operator. Then, we called a local school and
started.
<RING>...<RING>...<RING>
[someone picked up the phone...]
Rebel: Special Operator #337, may I help you please?
Woman: Huh? I didn't call the operator.
Rebel: Are you sure? I just received your call.
Woman: No, really, I didn't call you.
Rebel: Hmmm...it could be line problems. They've been getting
crossed recently. Lemme check something here...
[He types a few things on the keyboard, click, click, click...]
Rebel: Ok, it's coming up on the screen. Your number is 805-xxx-xxxx?
And, you're such-and-such High School, is this right?
Woman: Yah. That's right.
Rebel: Ok, hold on a sec...
[He types a little bit more...]
Rebel: Hmmm...Ok, I see we've been getting some complaints in your area of
line quality problems, and complaints of crossed lines. Mostly,
the problem has been associated with corporations and companies,
especially ones with computer lines. Apparently, those data lines
are really causing trouble for the voice lines and our equiptment.
Do you have any computer lines going in or out of your school?
Woman: Uh, yes we do. For attendance and grades, you know. Yah, I've
noticed the lines getting bad, too.
Rebel: I see... [pauses a little bit]
Well, is it possible you could give us the numbers to those lines
so we can do line quality checks, and determine whether or not
we should send someone over?
[Unfortunately, she didn't know any, really. She gave the phone
numbers of the school lines that were receiving and sending data
to and from the main co. that actually did the processing. But,
she was completely ignorant; if she had known the number we
were looking for, she would have given it to us immediately.]
Rebel: Ok, also, could you give us the numbers to any other outside
computers or businesses you deal with?
[She was more than glad to. She gave us the numbers to the other
schools in the area which exchanged info back and forth,
as well as the voice number to Central Coast Computing - the firm
that actually processed and stored data for the school district
- 3 high schools, 1 city college, 3 or 4 junior highs...Central Coast
was a definite lead.]
Rebel: Ok, thankyou. <CLICK>.
Then, we called Central Coast up, told 'em Rebel was the operator, and
the
whole spiel of what happened at the High School, and that we were given their
number in an effort to track down the line problems...So, we asked the woman
there for the computer lines. She was completely clueless, and so, she
transferred us to a Technician (they actually have a technician on duty 24
hrs!). We gave him the story, and he didn't quite buy it. Instead of giving
us the phone number, he gave us the circuit number! What a bastard! He said
he wanted to get back to Rebel later, so Rebel told him to call 611 - phone
repair - and ask for Operator #337. That, was of course, totally bogus, but
it
got us off the hook.
We didn't get what we were looking for exactly, but we got pretty damn
close. At least it proved we could get almost anything with that scam alone.
Infact, you could really do alot with it! I plan to expand on it a little
later.
Another Use for the Operator Scam:
One day, I got a call from the head guy at the local GTE central office.
I
pretty much freaked out at first, because I thought he was a Bell Security
Goon. The last person I expected to get a call from was someone at GTE,
especially an official. He told me his name and who he was and that when they
printed the GTE directory (of employees and the central offices) they had
transposed a digit in his office phone number, and instead, ended up using my
voice phone! I was pretty relieved to find that this was the reason he had
called. He told me they were sending out inter-office memo's with the correct
phone number, and that he was sorry for the inconvenience if people were
calling me by mistake trying to get GTE. This would continue a while until
everyone had gotten the correction. No prob, I said. I'll just give 'em your
number.
I got a few calls a day from people all over the country wanting to talk
to this guy, and after a while it got kinda upsetting. Especially when they
woke me up at 9:00 in the morning.
It wasn't until a little later I realized how lucky I was that my number
should be almost exactly the same as his, and that this whole unfortunate
incident should befall me.
This was my chance to become a 'real' operator and have some fun with
GTE.
These guys usually called at around the same time each day, and I was almost
psychic at figuring out if it was GTE or someone else. "Oh, it's 4:00,
that'll
be GTE calling."
So, one day, I just answered "Special operator #337, may I help you
please?" The guy was completely stunned, and didn't say anything for a few
seconds. I repeated it.
"Uh, yes, I'm calling the GTE Central Office at 805-xxx-xxxx."
I quickly moved over to my keyboard and started pounding away.
"Ok, you're trying to reach so-and-so (the guy's name)?"
"Yes."
"Ok, sir, his number has been changed to 805-xxx-xxxx. His line
is busy right now, though."
"Ok, thanks, I'll try again later." <CLICK>.
Heh, Heh! To think that I could manipulate GTE employees so easily was
pretty great. I considered getting acoustic couplers (like at Radio Shack or
something), so when some other GTE guy called, I could give him the new
number,
dial it with my modem line (my second phone line is usually dedicated to
data),
tell 'em I was the operator connecting a call, and acoustically couple both my
phones together, making it appear as though I had actually connected the two!
Then, I could listen to their conversations, record 'em with my handy phone
taps, and even interrupt them or disconnect them at will! Infact, I may just
do that.
It might be interesting to impersonate a Lineman next...I know a guy
who's
had some success at getting Phone Co. info as a Lineman...
Yah, if you put your mind to it, you can do just about anything by phone.
Give it a try. And, if you have any success, let us know at Infinity's
Edge...805/683-2725.
This has been a Krackartists' Presentation.