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Conference calling - all by itself

When I'm talking on the phone, suddenly I hear a ringing, and a third party is being dialed up - someone random from my contact list. This happens almost every time I'm on the phone. And I can't even see who it is dialing up, so I have to hang up and redial my original contact. Is there a way to shut conference calling off?

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cwfashion

it happens to me all the time too. dangerous for me as I am talking to clients....

Verizon_Support

That's very unusual Jules27! I know I would be concerned as well if my phone was performing like that! How long has this been going on? What model is your Bold? Have you tried removing the battery for a soft reset? Let's get to the bottom of this!

Sincerely,

JonathanK_VZW

VZW Support

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Vibe_of_the_Vortex

JonathanK, I was pleased to see that someone at Verizon is concerned about the kind of thing that Jules27, and others, are experiencing, thank you for noticing and indeed for getting to the bottom of this.

Verizon Wireless Customer Support wrote:
That's very unusual Jules27! <snip> Let's get to the bottom of this!

Sincerely,

JonathanK_VZW

VZW Support

Follow Us on Twitter@VZWSupport

I experience similar symptoms with my phone use as does Jules27. On outgoing calls I sometimes experience a "double ring tone" for the first few rings. I feel as though someone is listening in on my calls, or worse. I have experienced the dreaded "call forwarding scam", perhaps Verizon customers should be made aware of this type of scam which happens very quickly and goes unnoticed. The Call Forward scam can happen anytime the telephone is left unattended, or when someone asks to use your phone. Star codes are then used by a perpetrator to activate call forwarding to a particular phone number of the perpetrators choosing...on the device belonging to an unsuspecting victim. The perpetrator can do this quickly and easily, and the action of doing this is easily deleted from the call log so no one ever knows it happened. While enabled, the call forwarding will direct all of the victims incoming phone calls to a third party number, which in turn can be set to forward that call to yet another number... and so on. It's probably difficult to trace such a call that goes through so many channels. Things like Identity Theft, a prank, stalking, jealous spouses, unscrupulous business' and more can happen this way. Personal information can be listened in on very easily while the phone owner has no idea about the activity. It's happened to me more than once. I know that Verizon is aware of this scam and they are actively combating this activity... see for yourself by calling costumer service with trouble using your phone and they will instruct you to "reset your phone" with a given code, but more importantly, you will be instructed to enter *73, which turns off the dreaded call forwarding. Everyone should use the *73 regularly to help prevent this. I do.

And now for the reason I am writing this in the first place... Dear Verizon, I have a suspicion that there is an old, "PBX Switchboard" installed in my area. I believe the switchboard is being used to spy on people for the purpose of gaining I identity theft information on a large scale. One of these old PBX machines was recently auctioned off by the local Law Enforcement where I live. I don't think it would be difficult to make modifications to such a device, caller ID for example could be easily incorporated into it, among other things. I am highly suspicious of this PBX machine and I know it is out there, it can be read about in the local newspaper some time around spring 2012. I am hoping that this little bit of info will prompt Verizon to have a look, see if there is a way to find the thing and get rid of it if my concerns are found valid.

Please contact me for further details, I am hesitant to say too much about the PBX machine in this venue. I hope that you will find this worthy of looking into...who knows how many of those PBX machines are out there, but anyone who knows telephony, knows what kind of damage can be done with one of these in today's communication environment.

Thanks for reading, please contact me.

thanks, Vortex

Verizon_Support

Vortex, thanks for sharing your situation. This does sound quite different from the original post, as that one was where the phone made a conference call on its own. I haven't heard of the issue with double ringing. We do advise customers to check for call forwarding if they are unable to receive calls, but most of the times, customers have setup the call forwarding in error. I definitely would recommend not allowing anyone to use your phone that you don't know or trust.

As for the PBX machine, there is not much we can do to stop the sale of a device like this. Our network is very secure and our network checks for interference everyday.

MarquiaF_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

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