Countywide : Spanish-Speaking Customers Warned

Pacific Bell officials are warning Spanish-speaking customers to beware of a con artist who has racked up thousands of dollars in long-distance bills by pretending to be a company employee testing their lines.

“It’s not a very nice crime,” said Linda Bonniksen, a Pacific Bell spokeswoman. “He goes through the white pages, finding people with Spanish surnames. When he hits one who doesn’t speak English, he tells them he is a Pacific Bell security officer and asks if he can test their line.”

The man then places a third party call to Mexico and Central America and charges them to the victims, Bonniksen said. The phone company estimates that he began making the calls at the beginning of March but said that it is difficult to determine because customers detect the fraud only when they get their bills, sometimes weeks later.

Calls have been traced to pay phones in Santa Ana, Buena Park, Newport Beach, Cypress and Costa Mesa and have appeared on the victims’ phone bills, ranging from $400 to $1,100 in charges

The long-distance company serving the particular customer, such as AT&T;, Sprint or MCI, will absorb the cost as long as the charges are fraudulent, Bonniksen said. Those companies also will investigate the fraud.

Bonniksen said Pacific Bell security personnel will never initiate an investigation over the phone. If anyone claims to be a Bell employee, she said, a customer should ask for a picture identification card.

Anyone who thinks that he or she has been a victim of fraud should contact Pacific Bell.