Yahoo! News - Mobile Phone Scammers Cut OffOddly Enough - Reuters
Mobile Phone Scammers Cut Off
Wed Dec 4,10:39 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese mobile phone con artists had one of their most lucrative ploys disconnected Wednesday.
Parliament passed a bill outlawing the "wan-giri" or "one-ring" scam, which has been jamming phone networks and irritating mobile users for more than a year.
The ruse is simple.
Operators of adult entertainment services make vast numbers of computer-generated calls to random mobile numbers, hanging up after one ring. Users curious enough to call back are played a pornographic message or information about other adult entertainment services, and then sent a hefty bill.
Although there is no legal obligation to pay the charges, which are usually more than $160, many phone users have been frightened into doing so.
Telephone service in the western industrial region of Osaka was brought to a halt twice in July when wan-giri callers made around 3,000 simultaneous calls a minute.
Under the revised law, passed by parliament's Upper House on Wednesday following earlier approval by the Lower House, anyone found to be making mass random calls and hanging up without speaking faces a fine of up to $8,000 or up to a year in prison.
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