Phone Card Scams Hit Locals

Phone Card Scam Hits Locals
Oakland Ca--2/12/01
By Lynda Carson

Phone Card Scams Hit Locals Oakland Ca-In Oakland,pick a small grocery store,liquor store or a check cashing business, and you may find an array of posters giving the pitch for
the latest batch of phone cards to hit the scene.
In the commercial for Scotty\'s on the Soulbeat
Channel in Oakland,the cashier behind the counter has a fist full as though they were a deck of cards being flashed.Colorful small posters are smattered along the cashier counters,promising that their cards have the
best rates for long distance calls,and seem to be all
over the flatlands of Oakland.

Theres no doubt that in the low-income neighborhoods of Oakland,phone cards are big business.The trick is to
figure out which card is a scam,and which ones actually deliver what they claim.It\'s hit or miss.

The Traveler is one of the many cards found at many locations in Oakland,and one of the cards that fail to deliver.For instance in 2 test trials,the cards fell short of their promise.The promise was for $10.00,one gets 66 minutes long distance to S.Korea.No connection fee\'s.In reality,24 minutes is what it delivered. In the midst of the calls with both cards after 24 minutes a recorded message interrupted,claiming that the time was nearly up and only one minute left in credit Before the minute was up there was silence. Disconnected.A loss of 42 minutes calling time paid for in advance.

Calls made to the Customer Service number got thru to Ariana Telecommunications Consultants of Los Angeles.There I reached a fellow called Alex.After explaining the situation to Alex,he checked the records for the Pin Numbers which showed the shortage on both cards.I asked why this could be?

Alex claimed that theres problems with the system.During peak periods of usage,people on line get cut off as
new callers try to get on line.Since only so many people can use the system at once,those online get cut off to make room for the new.Worse,is that for those that get cut off,they lose what credit that was left on the card.Alex promised,that because I made the complaint that he would make sure that credit would be added to the Pin Numbers that I provided to him.It never happened.

In a number of repeat calls back to Customer Service,I actually reached Alex again.This time Alex denied that he told me what was at fault with the system,and tried to blame it on Maintenance Fee\'s.The problem with that,is
that The Traveler has no mention of Maintenance Fee\'s on the card or brochure.Suddenly Alex disappeared.When he
came back on line,I requested to speak to his supervisor and I mentioned that I wanted to do a story about these phone cards.

A woman with a thick spanish accent came on,only to disappear,and be replaced by another woman with no to little accent,called Cathy Rivas.I introduced myself,told her what Alex originaly stated about the flawed system,and that I\'m doing a story on The Traveler phone card.

There was an immediate denial that anything was wrong with their cards.Ms.Rivas went on to state that Ariana Telecommunications Consultants has been in
business for 6 years,sells around 20-25 cards that are
distributed by Worldwide Communications,and that for the moment their 2 best sellers are The Traveller and their card called La Vida Loca 2000.

Ms.Rivas did go on record stating that some cards worked better than others,and that it\'s dificult to get on line with their most popular cards.I could not get her to say which cards were best.

As it turned out,after checking the Pin Numbers
on The Traveler cards that I gave her,Ms.Rivas stated that the calls ended after 24 minutes,but could\'nt verify as to why.She then offered to give credit with a whole new diferent Pin Number. Ten dollars worth of credit, on a different card that was not The Traveler.Perhaps Ms.Rivas knew more than she cared to admit,and decided that it was not a good idea to set me up with another card called
The Traveler.