opening, then how they find me

Would you eat me? Check out "How it Works" on left side.

I must be delirious. I am listening to an album that I find incredible personal and sad (Johnny Cash, American V), and then I go to this site and laugh my ass off. Keep clicking the can, then wait.

I decided to check out my google ranking. Interesting plcements.

I get a lot of hits based upon some clown that has scammed the Caller ID system and shows a number of 864-223-1911 (put the number in the search box up top at search the blog – the first story has links to everything). On this search, I have the coveted Number One spot on google.

Then the dark underside emerges. I own the second placement in Google for How can women masterbait? I know, typo, old joke. Search it above.

Another google Number Uno: how to properly masterbait

Think first or second is good? Got that beat! Across the entire Internet, this search yields ONLY my blog; we be the alpha and omega: girl masterbaits with broom.

Change genders and I drop to fifth: way for a guy to masterbait

Remove gender reference and lower the age, and I float back to the top: kids masterbaiting

Reintroduce gender and add some scenery – still at the top: how many women masterbait in the shower

Keep gender, add DNA and ESL, drop to second place: my sister me caught masterbaiting

OK, enough of the yankers. Remember my daughter got tossed out of her school? I wrote a piece about it. Just happened again. Such a sweet kid. The problem is me, it is just that the administrators completely lack the testicular fortitude to say they only want people they can control. How interesting Heaven is gong to be! Anyway, I get the Alpha and Omega Award again. This time: "malicious interference with education".

Top spot again for keep getting a busy signal when i call a celluar one. Oh yeah, pal, we can fix that. You buy the extended warranty? No? Bummer. It’s gonna cost you …

Sorry, can’t help myself. Number One: masterbaiting contest winner. Who googles this stuff?

Last for now, fourth place for gravestone engravings + fishing rod and reel. Um, dunno.

864-223-1911 again

Update (May 14, 2007)- Funny, I just got called by these clowns this morning. Hadn't heard from them in months. When I was direct about my desire to see him in prison, he said he would put me on the "do not call list." How very helpful. Also found lots of comments on this number at whocalled.us.

I have posted on this scam-in-progress three times: first post; second post; and third post.

The summary is this - these folks have spoofed their Caller ID to appear as "G & S Moore. 864-223-1911." Further, a reverse look-up comes back as "Gary and Scarlett Moore, 115 Carriage Ct., Greenwood, SC 29646." The number is disconnected.

Most of us answer the call because it seems to originate from a residence and because we're nice - a wrong number redirected saves us from helping an old person across the street.

The caller is typically male with an eastern Indian accent (see the many comments on the previous posts) and is offering cellular telephone service, many times premised upon having won a free phone.

It is an attempt to steal your identity. Pure and simple.

Complaints have been filed with Verizon (usually the company mentioned) and the FCC. The resolution of the complaints has been, to my knowledge, a shrug.

The crux of the issue from our perspective - us poor folks just trying to keep a-holes off of our telephones and out of our lives - is how the Caller ID is spoofed. It is not an issue of enhancing the laws (I used to practice criminal law and never knew a criminal that cared about gun laws in his weapon selection). Although, upon reflection, enhanced laws would perhaps bring the investigatory budgets of federal law enforcement into the matter.

I posed the question in one of my posts of how to spoof a Caller ID, and the following explanation was just proffered. I haven't vetted it nor will I. Seems to give more than enough links for you all to do that.

Thank you peak-a-boo!

peak-a-boo has left a new comment on your post "864-223-1911 Update":

Hey, I didn't have time to read through all the comments to see if anyone else had posted about the Caller ID, but in today's world it is VERY VERY TRIVIAL to spoof one's Caller ID. Basically, it works because the Caller ID system was never meant as a form of authentication, so the entire phone system (in America anyway) just accepts its CID from the phone placing the call. This wasn't much of a problem until somewhat recently. Mostly the people who would spoof their CID were businesses with 100's of phone lines, but every time they would dial out they wanted the same Phone Number to show up on people's CID's. These companies that want to spoof their CID would normally be a pretty large business, so they would already be using large commercial PBX's (Private Branch eXchanges). Using these VERY VERY EXPENSIVE PBX's they can have it send their CID number as whatever they want.

Now, basically what has made it a much larger problem for a lot of people is the influx of VoIP, and more specifically Asterisk (http://www.asterisk.org). Asterisk is a FREE, Open Source, SOFTWARE PBX. So as opposed to all of the old phone hardware people used to have to have that cost 10's of thousands of dollars, and a lot of money for support, anyone can very easily run Asterisk on their computer, route their telephone wires through it, and have as much, if not more control over their phone system than any of these large corporations.

Asterisk runs on Linux/Unix based platforms. It is a very powerful system that gives you full control over every aspect of your phone system. There are many other things Asterisk is very good for besides Spoofing CID, it can route your calls to different places in a building, send calls to different voice mail boxes, display information you want it to using Text-to-Speech with feeds from the Internet, Etc. It is a very useful tool for a lot of people and a lot of businesses, but unfortunately a lot of people take advantage of it to illegally and annoyingly call many many people.

Congress has been working on passing some laws to regulate CID spoofing, and I think the ones that went through, make it illegal to spoof your CID if you have the intent to defraud someone. But of course, that's not going to stop these people. Another way that your average person can use to spoof CID without setting up Asterisk or another PBX, would be to use a service like SpoofCard (http://www.spoofcard.com). Spoof Card is a service very similar to regular Calling Card providers, except when you place the call they allow you to set the CID to whatever you want. All that company is doing with that service to get it to spoof the CID's is just that when people call in to their Calling Card's 1800 Number, they are calling into the companies Asterisk system at their offices. Then they have you enter the # to call, & the # to spoof, then route your call back out to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) with the Spoofed CID, and they're done.

I hope that cleared up Caller ID spoofing.... Search around the web for some of those terms I said if you want to learn more. If I gave any inaccurate information, I apologize. Despite all this, Asterisk is a great application, and is fun to play around with. Go ahead and install it at your house to play around with.... There's lots of fun stuff to do with it.

muzzled

Yeah, o'er it froze. No comment. Next.

I'm thinking visuals are a good way to post given my present state of mind. You see, when I write I know that I cannot disrespect the words so much as to force them into nice, safe, tidy little containers. I let them breathe, I watch as they fly - then I describe what I see.

Thoughts come to me, like - who is googling me locally that uses Verizon as their ISP, then out-clicking to my daughter's site? Have I become a site of prurient interest for them? I notice that they bookmarked my blog. And it is several folks, not just one, like a party line of gossips. They read and im each other, methinks.

"Can you believe he wrote that? Did you read the bit about the grandfather teaching his granddaughter to masturbate"?

"Yes, I did! I was appalled! And the one about the crack dealer! Like it was a good thing!"

"And that Christmas Story with the inflatable Santa developing a crack habit, poor thing."

"But you know, I almost bought one of those Lil Reminders. You remember the commercial where the woman gets lost in the parking lot? Happens all the time to me! Well, his post on it was very informative."

"I know! And his three posts on that scam caller id 864-223-1911 have been referred to the FCC to put a stop to that menace! He's really been helpful!"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"gtt"

"k cya"

"hey!"

"?"

"^urs"

"lmao"

"lbug"

"oh yeah? FO"

"FU2"

"gud"

"gyhooya"

"wtf?"

"rufkm? rtfm!"

"smb"

"yeah, sh"

"rumcymhmd"

"qyb"

"otp"

"ooi"

"h&k"

"lol"

"b"

"b"

See the trouble I get in? (In case you need a cheat sheet!) Onward to visuals ...

Speaking of Darwinism in action, here is what happens when you don't eat"



Sometimes folks just don't think when they work - or is this what they mean by "pride in the union label"?



I've had this newspaper clipping for a while. Do you think the California Wine Grapes guy has a basis for demanding a refund?



I've been jonesing for a beer lately like you wouldn't believe. Don't remember the last one I had. I can relate to this guy:



Why do men need beer?


Did you know the annual budget of the National Weather Service is almost $900 million? Here is everything they need:



Yeah, reality creeping in. More words. Better git ...

864-223-1911 Update 2

UPDATE.

Previous posts on this scam here and here.

From the many comments I have received to the previous posts, it seems that this guy has somehow scammed the Caller ID function. He continues to call around the nation erroneously saying that he is selling Verizon Wireless service and a few closely related products.

I filed formal complaints with the FCC and Pennsylvania AG. I have heard nothing from PA, and what I have heard from the FCC is even more disturbing.

I have received seven e-mails from the FCC. All time-stamped in the 2:00 AM hour, although the precise minute has been different. Here is the full text of the e's: "Re: CIMS00000209571 - Scam in progress. OutgoingFCCInfo@fcc.gov Fri, Nov 3, 2006 at 2:59 AM Reply-To: OutgoingFCCInfo@fcc.gov."

All seven were received in 48-hour increments. The next e was received November 5, then 7, 9, etc.

No text in the body of the e except for my complaint to them.

At least I got a CIMS number, whatever that is.

How sad.

864-223-1911 Update

UPDATE.

I have continued to get hits and comments on this phone number abuse. I filed complaints with the FCC and the Pennsylvania AG a few weeks ago. I just sent the e-mail below to donotcall@fcc.gov. Keep the pressure on, I guess.

From the looks of this - particularly the "disconnect" message - this guy must be a pure scam. He had what seemed to me an eastern Indian accent. Anyone notice the same or different?

I am amazed that he is overriding the Caller ID system. Who runs that? About halfway down on this page seems to be good information. This is from the mid-1990's:

"5) Can a Caller-ID signal be forged/altered ?

Since the signal is provided by the local Telco switch and the calling party's line is not connected until after the phone is answered, generally the signal cannot be altered from the distant end. Manipulation would have to take place either at the switch or on the called party's line.

"However, the foregoing applies only to a properly designed CNID unit. For instance the Motorola M145447 chip has a "power down" option that wakes the Chip up when the phone rings for just long enough to receive, process, and deliver the CNID signal after which it shuts down until the next call.

"Should this option be disabled, the chip will be in a "listen always" state and it is theoretically possible to "flood" a line making a vulnerable box record successive erroneous numbers.

"I have received a report of a device called "Presto Chango" that can transmit an extra ADSI modem tone after the call has been picked up that will cause a susceptible box to display the later information. It was also reported to me that CNID boxes marketed by US-West as their brand and made by CIDCO have been used to demonstrate the "Presto Chango" box."

So even moreso now, I guess.

Here is my e:

"Folks, I filed a complaint several weeks. I am sending this e-mail because I think I have some unique information.

"Go to my blog, please, and read the comments I have been receiving. Whoever is originating calls from 864-223-1911 is calling all over the nation. They claim to be soliciting for Verizon Wireless, although one of the comments to my posting (linked below, third item in writing) mentions Sprint.

My post.

"The Caller ID comes up an individual – G & S Moore. A reverse lookup gives fuller information – Gary and Scarlett Moore, 115 Carriage Ct., Greenwood, SC 29646. But, most importantly, when you call the number a message comes up saying it is disconnected.

"I do not get a lot of traffic on my blog, but you can see the hits I am getting by looking at the Site meter referrals. You can then select "By location" on the left and see all the places being called.

"This is a scam. Please investigate. Thank you."

The ventilator is running

UPDATE on 864-223-1911.

In college, I stepped onto the car port roof and promptly sliced my foot on a piece of glass. It was my left foot, inside, just short of my heel. A beautiful, deep gash from which blood spurted. It didn’t ooze or run. It spurted. I sat down and patiently stopped the blood loss over an untracked length of time. I forgot to think about pain.

It was about two weeks before I walked with unthinking pressure on that foot again. I walked without shoes or socks back onto the car port. Step. Slice. Spurt.

I didn’t simply reopen the old wound. How do I know? Although it seemed to be the exact same place and blood splatter, I removed the new piece of glass from the wound. Damn. This time I remembered to feel pain.

One of my roommates gave to me a small jar of orange salve. He said his grandmother gathered roots and flowers, and made the salve herself. He was from Caribou, Maine – so far north I suspect the caribou migrate south for the winter.

I applied the salve and it seemed to advance the healing rapidly. I used the salve for many years and hardly dented the amount in the jar. I had it until several years ago when someone threw it away without my knowledge or permission. I’m still a little cranky about losing it.

I started thinking about that salve because of what must be a change in FCC regs or broader statutory requirements. Whenever a drug commercial comes on, the not-a-real-sick-person-taking-our-drug-but-a-crack-abusing-actor-being-paid-to-say-what-we-write tells us how much better their stomach acid is because of taking the whatever-color-you-want pill. But, they helpfully add and downplay it through dismissive body language, “my doctor tells me that certain side effects may occur including explosive diarrhea, severe dehydration, cardiac arrhythmias, and, in documented but rare cases, spontaneous combustion. I should also tell my doctor what other medications I am taking and whether or not I vote regularly.”

I think I would rather the stomach acid. I’ll just avoid the moo-shoo pork.

Office Depot has a hard drive with a rebate. No need to link. Don’t feel like it. The drive is 100GB retailing for $80; the rebate is $60. To qualify you have to purchase the drive between October 1 and 7 inclusive. Today is October 3. Early in the rebate period, eh? So I add it to my shopping cart. Insufficient stock. One. Too many. Do I want to back order? Dunno – you gonna give me the rebate? I call 800/go-depot. “Good question. I will direct you to the rebate center at 866---.” I call. I’m an amiable dunce like that. Easily led. 1 for English. 2 for question on a rebate. 2 to speak with someone. “Because of exceptionally high call volume, you may have to wait up to five minutes to speak with a customer service representative.” OK. The nose ring is firmly in place. I’ll wai--- “We’re call, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try again.” I go back to 800/go-depot. “Yes, you are right. Back orders are typically received in 5 to 7 business days after placing your order. We cannot guaranty that you will receive this product in time to qualify for the rebate.”

In the 3d day of a 7 day rebate, they are bailing on the customer. Office Depot sucks.

OK. Last bitch, I promise. About a week ago I got a call. On my caller id it reads, “G & S Moore. 864-223-1911.” I don’t know them, but I don’t mind telling people they misdialed. I answered. Now, I am not just unlisted but private. I am on the do-not-call lists for Pennsylvania, federal, and inter-galactic. I detest unsolicited sales calls on par with crotch itch.

Yep, you guessed it. Sales call. Verizon Wireless. “I would like to tell you about …” No. Not interested. Pal, it’s 8 o’clock in the morning. On a Saturday. “But won’t you just listen to …” No. You are about to violate federal law (I had no idea). “OK. Thank you very much.”

But where did I go wrong? G&S Moore to Verizon Wireless? I reverse lookup the number. Gary and Scarlett Moore, 115 Carriage Ct., Greenwood, SC 29646. Odd. Seems like a private listing. Verizon is masking their origin to get through solicitation blocks? Seems unethical.

So last night the phone rings twice then stops. G&S Moore. Wow. I call back immediately. “We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again.” Wow.

There ought to be a law against such blatant manipulation of the phone system.

Enough. Bye