Fraudulent Billings Reported on Collect Calls From Mexico

State and federal officials are looking into complaints from hundreds of Southern California residents who were left with hefty phone bills after accepting collect calls from impostors claiming to be relatives.

More than 500 people have called the office of Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) to complain about the charges on their bills, which range from $57 to $100.

The calls appear to have originated from pay phones in Tijuana. The owners of those pay phones, according to the phone company that provides service to them, would be the ones to profit from the calls.

“We’re looking at every level of this issue. My first job is to find relief for some of my constituents,” Correa said. “It’s the perfect crime. You go to Mexico, get the [Southern California] white pages and start dialing away. Of course, this is speculation, but that is what I suspect is going down. It’s nasty.”

The state attorney general’s office and the Federal Communications Commission are looking into the matter, officials said.

“We’re well aware of what’s going on, and we’re investigating to see what we can do,” said an FCC representative, who asked that his name not be used.

According to the recipients, an operator calls and asks whether the person will accept a collect call, from someone identified as having the same last name. The recipient, thinking the caller is a relative, accepts the call, only to find out that he or she does not know the caller, and hangs up. By then, however, the call has been billed.

Sandra Michioku, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said the agency is determining whether to conduct a formal investigation.

“What we know is that people are being billed for collect calls from people they don’t know. We’re looking into it,” she said.

Santa Ana resident Francisco Bernal said he received a collect call from Mexico from a man who said he was Roberto Bernal. Since his brother is named Roberto, Francisco took the call, thinking there might be a family emergency.

“But the minute this guy began to talk, I knew it wasn’t him. I said, ‘Who’s this? What do you want?’ I got really worried,” Bernal said.

After he called his family in Guerrero and determined that everyone was fine, he figured it might be a case of mistaken identity. Several weeks later, when he received a bill for $69, he was livid.

“It made me think someone was out to make money off of the call,” he said.

The calls show up on monthly phone bills as “billed by Zero Plus Dialing Inc.” ZPDI bills on behalf of companies that provide long-distance phone service.

ZPDI Chief Operating Officer Jacquelene Mitchell said the complaints about her company were unjustified because ZPDI just handles the billing on behalf of carriers who set rates.

Mitchell said the long-distance carrier was Oncor Communications of Dallas. The company provides services to pay phones.

Oncor spokeswoman Tracy Frederick said the company was aware of the fraud allegations and had shut off the pay phones in Tijuana from which the calls were made. The pay phones are owned by people who make commissions on the calls made from each phone, she said. Owners of stores where the phone booths are located also earn commissions, she said.

“Under no circumstances does Oncor want to allow fraud to occur. We try to look out for it and stop it when we see what’s happening,” Frederick said.