Prepaid Phone Cards and How They Cheat You

Prepaid phone cards are the "ugly step-child" of telephony (telecommunications industry): "we're stuck with them, but we're not proud of them." In case you're not familiar with prepaid phone cards, here's how they work. Typically, the customer, John Q. Cardholder, buys a phone card (costing $5 to $20) from his local convenience store or gas station. It looks like a credit card sans the embossing. An 800 number and a ten-digit PIN number are printed on it. From, traditionally, a pay phoneJohn Q. calls the 800 number and a voice recording prompts him to enter the PIN. He enters the PIN, using the keypad, and if the PIN is valid, he is notified of the card's balance and prompted to "enter the number you wish to call." The computer then calls the entered phone number and starts deducting money from the card. The card can be used over and over until the value is gone. As the time left on the card expires and the value approaches zero, the computer, after a 60 second warning, cuts off the call and the card is deemed "used up."

Although the phone card industry in recent years is waning due primarily to falling cell phone talk time costs, phone cards are here to stay. But, why would anyone pay good money for the hassle of making calls from a phone booth? In addition to cell phones, VoIP phone companies, like Vonage, offer a pay-one-low-price deal, and actually, some Internet calling companies like Skype or iCall advertise free calling. So, why buy phone cards? The answer is that the phone card customer base is primarily comprised not of cost conscious college students, but most prepaid phone card users are terrorists, illegal aliens, drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and cheating husbands. Only a small percentage of phone cards are used by the budget conscious. Most phone cards are purchased by those needing anonymity. It is because the end-user of the phone card is not likely to complain that phone cards are so ripe for abuse.

To understand that abuse, one must understand the phone card's five enterprise levels and their interrelationship:

Carrier This is the phone company, the large phone line businesses, such as AT&T, Sprint, Quest, etc. They sell "lines" to the service bureau.

Service Bureau This is where the accounting on the cards is done. The service bureau has a computer and a "phone switch" with the equivalent of thousands of phone lines connected to the phone switch. A computer

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