TAP No. 24 - Fraud Detectors, Index of TAP Issues, 1974 CC Code

TECHNOLOGICAL AMERICAN PARTY HELP IS NEEDED We need info on the following subjects for future articles in TAP. Automatic Blue Boxes- With info about where they're nec~ essary. Vending Machines- Locks, getting stuff, ete, Locks- New code books, picking Medeco, Sargent Keso, tricks, etc. Radio- Setting up your own station, transmitter schematics ‘and building jammers, info on pirate station legal hassles. Burglar Alarms- Such as Holmes and other central station alarms, bypassing, electronic keys and picking, etc. Also, Magnets, Overseas Phreaking, and Chemistry, Dear TAP- Your advice on turning back Con Ed meters by hand is great-been doing it for years. However, you should men- tion that when turning the dials back, one should be very careful not to touch or even slightly rub the face of the meter. The black ink used to form: 3 2s smudges very easily on the white background-They must use a Special ink to get that effect. Also the white back- ground stains easily from the slightest touch. Smudges put the meter reader on notice that the meter has been tamp- ered with, The seal on the meter can be replaced so it will look un- touched if you use common sense in cutting it (Any one know how?).But if there are smudges the meter reader closely examines the seal, which he wouldn't ordinarily do, and then puts Con Ed hip to the game. This happened to me once and I don't know their next step since I moved (for other reasons) right after Con Ed put ina new unsmudged meter with a new seal. But that is the only way Con Ed ever caught on in about 5 years. You should advise participants to be careful not to get caught since sect, 165, 15-5 of N, Y. penal law states "with intent to avoid payment... for a charge... measured by a meter he tampers with such device or related equipment or in any manner attempts to prevent the meter or device from performing its measuring functior ..." is a class A misdemeanor and with a legal aid lawyer you'll do the maximum sentence of 2 year. Also in any payphone, a 1/4" brass washer works for a dime-not by putting tape over the holes which rarely works but simply by spitting on the washer, both sides. It takes some practice until you learn just how wet to get the wash- er; you may have to drop it in the slot a few times. Use a 1/4"brass washer-not a #14, which is the same diameter, but has a bigger hole. I have never yet used a phone that didn't work on these. Works best on phones with lever coin returns-knob return phones must be tried a few times. Keep up the good work. Fuck them all. P.S.- If you wrap some drano in aluminum foil then drop the foil in water, hydrogen is produced. Don't know what concentration is explosive, but it has possibilities-dropped ina toilet, quantities of explosive gas are produced. -NY- NO. 24 DECEMBER 1973 Ghe New Year season makes us feel Hull of joy, zest, and zeal The joy we feel when we explode Che 1974 Credit Card Code! oO 1234567890 NXZAGSQFUJ .To use this code, add the toa phone number of the desir is determined by the bth digit ple- Litton Industries in Los An Code 213, The code for Los Anyeles is 124, and the 5th digit is 8, The Credit Card Number is 273-7260-124 F.How people make calls is outlined in the Credit Card Fact Sheet. je and then the code letter corporation. The letter the phone number. Exam- les is 273-7260, Area Dear TAP, Ihave noticed that all the envelopes I have received from TAP have been opened. Twice they were resealed with a lt of glue, and once the envelope was just taped up loosely, after being opened at the top. It seems someone has made it their duty to monitor private mail. Is this legal? Maybe some of your readers have had this same problem The number of the American Embassy in Moscow is 252- 0011. To test Blue Boxes, dial KP 402 009 ST, then dial KP 11 + digits + ST, up to 10 digits. The computer will read back the numbers you dial correctly. 901-725-9021 is a test # with the s ound of a tr: Ed. No! r two years we have had problems with our mail, as you all know. But getting it intercepted by Bell is another story. In 1972, one reader reported that Bell sec- urity men knocked on the door and asked if they were the same person whose initials had appeared under a certain letter in YIPL. They said, "We know you receive YIPL" (now TAP, of course), Another reader overheard Bell sec- urity calling their employer and saying,"He receives a newsletter called YIPL, which is part of a national conspi- racy of about 600 people". And we recently learned that in a bust,a Bell man was carrying an Issue of TAP address- ed to the bustee, THE ONE ISSUE THAT THEY DIDN'T RECEIVE, This is totally illegal without court order, and we are sure that some of the above cases werén't ordered by any court, We are examining several possibilities at this end, but any of you can pick up a few bucks if you have a witness to evidence of mail tampering without a court order, and institute a suit against your local pigs. If any of you know of direct evidence liking Bell or Post Office officials with mail tampering, let us know about it, Youth Hot Line Reports, Inc. 1973 Movement groups may reprint with TAP's address, and please send us copy of reprinted work. Published for informational purposes only by Youth Hot Line Reports, Inc, REPORT ON YOLL FRAUD DETECTORS It is now widely acknowledged that Phone Phreaks have contributed greatly to society. For example, we have been regarded by AT&T as "a threat to national security". This has been of service to our President in his more trying moments of attempting to rationalize his grand larceny of the Bill of Rights. We have similarly enabled AT&T to blame rising phone rates partly on us. And now it seems that we are putting people to work making devices to catch us, A definite contribution to the nation's economy! ‘The most obvious way to eliminate Blue Boxing is to change the frequencies. Fortunately, that's impossible. ‘The whole fucking world has adopted MF (multifrequency) as the standard. So the next thing tried was to detect the 2600 Hz. tone, which is normally not present on customer phone lines, or even between certain Central Offices(C, O,) Teltronics (we printed their credit card # in Issue 20) has a FFF-100 Fone Freak Foiler for detecting 2600 Hz. tones longer than .1,.2, or .5 seconds(selectable). Two units are mounted on a card for rack mounting in a C, O, for $98. For $350 they sell a PFFF-1 Portable Fone Freak Foiler that also has two channels and is smaller than a breadbox. When activated by a 2600 Hz, tone, it closes a relay that can be hooked up to a tape recorder, alarm bell, fuse, etc. It can also be wired to disconnect your line, too. Dianatek makes a $295 SF and KP counter. It only res- ponds when it hears 2600 (SF or Single Frequency) followed by Key Pulse within the next 20 seconds. Since most sen- ders time out by 20 seconds, you can't beat it by blowing off and then counting to 20 before KP, This means that it won't be fooled by false alarms of people picking up their phones, dialing long distance information and whistling. However, it also won't respond to SF fraud, done by send- ing pulses of 2600 for each digit. SF is still around in some places and we'll report on it soon as receive info on it, Hekimian Laboratories(301 424-3160) sells a $4000. 51A Dialed Number Recorder. It records on paper tape like an adding machine, noting such trivia as every me you pick up the phone or hang it up, every call you receive, and the exact numbers you dial or touch-tone. Oh, yes it notes when 2600 appears on the line aboveé'~31 dBm in volume, ‘Time is kept by an internal clock wit the date, and for a measly $1000 you can add Multi-frequency printout so that all Blue Boxed numbers will be recorded, It can also activate other equipment like the others. A remote signal extender allows the Recorder to be used at a point that is not connected by a DC loop, such as over carrier (and mult- iplexed) facilities. 5000 calls ean be recorder before the paper tape has to be replaced, so don't hesitate to jiggle the switchhook before you go to sleep tonite! Northeast Electronics makes a similar Dialed Number Recorder, a little less expensive, and a capacity for only 500 calls on a roll of tape. Voiceprint labs has another but it doen't even detect 2600 unless you fork over another $200 (after the initial $2000). Bramco (513 773-8271) makes cheapie tone decoders that you'd have to modify to turn into a fraud detector. Hekimian also makes a Black Box detector that detects voice currents on a line which is not drawing "off-hook" current from the C,O, It also has a 2600 detector that is used to prevent "Reverse Sig" boxes, which simulate a ‘black box by sending 2600 back to the caller. Information on Reverse Supervision boxes will be forthcoming. “As for Red Boxes, the Phone Company is relying on op- erator's ears. A lamp is usually able to tell if coins are present, but only vhen an operator manually collects or returns (or tries to) coins. Still, operators are so used to broken equipment that you can usually act indignant if they get suspicious and get away with it. The trick is not to bave them collect or return money when there isn't any. Bell's had their own stuff for a while, like a 2600 detec~ tor which activated a normal tape recorder. They would then use the tapes in court, And the Dialed Number Recor- ders are just fancy versions of the old Pen Register. A computer program that counts 800 calls for normal statis- tical data is now used to cali attention to excessive or long 800 calls or 555-1212 calls. Suspects get 2600 detectors placed on their lines as the next step. Bell's own stuff was all designed to be compatible with the rest of the system, thus their 2600 detectors have "talk-off" protection, Though some 2600 detectors have a narrow acceptance bandwidth around the center frequency, in this case 2600, Bell's have an additional feature which rejects as false all 2600's that are accompanied by other sounds. These can be bypassed by using guard tones, also coming up Soon in TAP, but the poor quality of ali the other manufacturers doesn't allow the use of guard (because they don't use talk-off). All of these units work, and they all have limitations. Obviously, putting filters in all of the phone lines in the country is too expensive. Even putting in filters at points of concentration that all lines must go through is rough, and will take time. These would probably be set up to drop a call rather than trace it in order to discourage further phreak activity. This would be a definite bummer. But we have one hope, and that is that we must rely on the inflated egos of Bell's crack security force. These dudes know damn well that putting in filters and even the detectors won't earn them any points with the top brass. - If Bell's own security can't stop phone phreaks, what the hell are they on the precious payroll for? If any agents are reading this, and we know they are, we hope they ask themselves that question and get to work finding us with their own ingenuity, IF THEY CAN! Bob Kitzinger of Illinois Bell Telephone admits they spend more to catch us than they get back. One day, Bob, even JD might be forced by the biggies to abandon this charade, along with the clowns. But Bob knows this and that's why phone phreaks have hope. If Bob gets every phreak in Illinois he'll be out of a job, Yes, we'll hear rumors of busts and filters and detectors all over the place, and each time someone is caught a hundred papers will scream head- Hines, but in reality it will all be people like Bob who want job security, being PR people rather than recommending the most effective methods to their superiors and being replaced by a machine. We don't blame you, Bob. How do we get around the detectors that are around? By using common sense. Don't use home phones for Blue Box calis. Don't have a "favorite" booth for Red or Blue Box calls, Don't stay on long on Black Box calls. Without calling attention to yourself, try to find out what the story is in your local C, O, This is possible by asking your Business rep. what kind of switching system you've got, ‘They tell you sometimes, if you Say you just read an art- icle about ESS (Electronic Switching System), and you're doing a report for school. Get a job or have a friend get job at your C.O, And keep all calls, even from pay phones, under 10 minutes and even less if possible. You can make twice as many calls safely if they're half as long. Try this gem: Use a Red Box to call a cheap long distance number, and beep off to Blue Box Landi At the end of the call, give the operator her money. Why use a Blue Box if you've got a Red Box? Europe, Australia and Africa, for example! Most booths won't hold enough Red Box $. Ifa Blue Box Detector records your call, there's a chance that the number you box will also be taped. So be ‘sure to cail only cool people, or amnesiacs, or corporat- ions, However, the most important security precautionyou can take is to watch what you say. More phreaks have been caught because of big mouths than anything else. Before they put a detector on your line, they have to suspect you, right? Don't brag about your black box when people you don't trust are within earshot. Bob says, " Most of our help on Black Boxes comes from informants", Don't tell your friend that you just called them with a hot credit card or a red box or the operator may hear you. Just act like every phone you're on is tapped. If you.subseribe to TAP, they probably are! All information is free if you can't afford it, BACK ISSUES-50¢ 1+ Extensions, conference switches 2+ Blue Box Story and Abbie on ripotts ‘3+ Telecommand Story 4- Pay Phone Issue “..TWO OF THE FINEST PUBLIC SERVANTS THAT I'VE KNOWN” 17-Red Box, Line Relay 19-Cali Stopper 19-Snoop Light 20-Cheese Box & Bite Bor } >> now obsoletetismus 12) 21-Autonatic Phone Tap ‘7 Tunlng your 22-Ansveroo - Credit card calls and 1972 code 23- Free Electrisity 95 Supor Duper Projecytige issue 11) A1-Recelving long distance calls free 12-Blue Box Pans \S-International Calls’ Box Plans. M4-International Calls #2 ATT Papors 1fi~1973 Credit Code, T Network \-Red Box Plans FACT SHEETS-257 1,New Credit Card Fact ‘Sheet ('74 Code and How to do it Safely) Lon, Distance Calls Fre AUTI-BELL BUTTON $06 10/83.00 DESTRUCTORY ASSISTANCE-Free, just ‘sond as much info as you want back in & stamped, self-addressed envelope. 2600 whistle Perfector- 15¢ Dual Tone Uscillator with Interrupter-16 stance Topics- Free Schedule fron 2nd Int'l Phreak Convention— Free ‘envelope, add $1.50 List of Destructory Al To receive Sub, via first cla $2 Subscription approx, 10 issues/yr. ttonew 1f your address has a 14 or le: TAP, ROCM 504, 152 W, 42 ST.,N.Y. Ne sailing address on} INDEX to issues 1-23 Ltr pednr poccwnrds at syeratnr~ ! a bteal This Buok-$2,25 stonopol y- $1.20 Number on address area indicates first issue sent, on it, 10036 check or money order only, NG CAS! All listings are under Issue Number and Page Number, e.g.-17. 4 is Issue 17, page 4. Only places where actual information is given are listed under headings. Abbie Hoffman 2.3;18.3 Greait Cards (cont. Answeroo 22.1 City Codes 1, 1;0.1;8. 3:15. 4 Bell System Code1971 1. Buildings 9.4 1972 8.3 Milltary-Industeial Complox 2. 4;20.4 1973 15.4 Collect Calls To 4. 35 eather te 3 Froe Calls 17.21 yr 10. 3;12. 5 Cain So Gompatar 10.3:12, Mating Coln Soants 1.3; 320.8 Bickel Cstts Statistles 5. 3;16.2;17, 1;18. 4;20.3 Bills Phone (Reducing) 6.2;15.2;20, 4 Black Box ‘Detucting 12. 1518. 2;19,2 Hew it Works 9.3;11,3 Schematics and Plans 9,3;12.2 Steal This Book plans 10.3 Numbers 1. M Penny Cells 4.2;7.3 Recording Co!n Sounds 4.2 Refunds 4.2;19.2;11.3 Retrieviag Cains 4.3;11.3 . Stuss T Hierwork 41:7. 3)18, 316.1 Sin 3 8:10. 3511, 2; Removing 0.2 eet? 9.3510, 3312, 2:15. 2:20. 4 Adjasting Spoed 17.2 ‘Advarticement for 13.4 Eavesirepping } 57. 159. 2510. 2, 4513. 1334. 25 19. 1, 4521. 1, 3322.2 Amplifier-Nixor{Piaus) 6.3 Electric Meters City Codes Country Cates 19,3316, Err ang 6: Corrention 21.2;22, 4 Prenuonsias 2,46, 102,2 Detecting 1. Bint Type (Flana) 27.2 How it Works 12. ab In Bethroom 8,2 inpvenens 17.2;19.2 Anduetion Coupler 6.1 - Pulses 12.1 InternaUonal Eas 13, 3514. 215, 2;15. 4522.2 Films, Renting Phone Co. 22.4 Pushbut!se Type (Plans);16.2 Musical totes 7.4 Exrebombs 22.2 Using 13.1;15.2 Firewor's 21.3 a Gisolescence 82 Fireworks 21-9 sanoEig Tam Recorder 4.1:10.2 Sreiveee Hottman-Seo Abbie 3:15. 3;16.9517.2 Preas Censorsbip 16.9 Hold Button 1-2 + Eafety 17.1 Codes-See Blue Box 3 Bilo.2:13. 18. 4319.1 Schematlc(Plans) 12.2 Creiit Card to U.S. 18.9 Signetics VCO 13.1 ard . ‘Dunk 7.4312. 9313, 2514 2 Pilsen 13, 3522, Supermarket Ripotts 8,2;20, 3 Using 2. 150-156. 9512, 319.2514,2 aa Supervision 20.2 Usitay Tape Recorder 2.1 Lie Dot ‘23, 4 Suppliers 7. 3,8. 1;11.1;12. 2314. 2;16. 2316.2; Book Clubs 1.1 tector 22. 1.3 Bugs-Sce Taps Line, Getting freo Extra 5.2 ‘T-Netzork q Call Stepper 18.2 Line Relay 7.3 Taps 3.3;9. 1518, Cheese Box 20, Lock. Tap, Autamatc 21.3 ‘Computors 10. 3;12.4 Rollersmith 23.3 Telocommand 3.3 Catch Red Box 22,3 Picking Phone 9.2 Test Numbers 13. Crimincls 18.1 Eva 10.2514.2;17, mmira 18. Ripple Off 9.1 Number Billing'4, 3; Conference 1.2:17. 4;20, 2 onsoring 7 Tip and Ring 13.1 Convention Free 3.2}, ‘Toll Restrictors 22.3 First 12,1 Mackeral 14.4 ‘Touchtone Frequencies 7. 4;12,2 Second 21.2 Money Schemes Votceprints 14. 4;22. 4 Credit Cards ‘BOI Changers 16.3 War Products 11.4 Calls to U, 5, 18.3 Dent, Stores 7.2 ‘War Tax Reeirtance 1,456.4. on the kind of switching equi- pment you have in your C, O,: Identification: Step by Step: Dial your own number and listen after each digit. If it makes a distinct click or clicks after most of the digits you have SXS, If you get nothing except a distinct Klunk Klunk sound after the last digit only, before you have a busy you have Crossbar,cither no, 1 (the first kind Pa Rell created or no. 5, the improved variety. If your bi nal sounds real musical rather than the normal ha her busy you probably have no. 1 ESS. Black boxes are consid- ered safe only on no. » or possibly no. 1 crossbar, Tt can be used on SXS but for only very short periods, unless your C,O, switchroom is unattended at the time you use the box or if the C,O, doesn't have CPH alarms. The pur- pose of these is not to catch boxes (although it works for that) but to keep someone who called you from holding your line up in case they don't hang up. If the alarm comes in once in a while the switchman will just get up and knock down the connection (you'll be disconnected, and after a minute or more) but he'll get VERY suspicious if it happens too often and he may listen in, If he hears a conversation and the alarm says one person hung up, well... Some cheap offices don't have alarms, they're safe for boxing. To find out, call some business you can't stand in the same office (same prefix or first 3 digits) and after they hang up sit on the line. Make the call just before they close for the day, or they'll call the phone co. and have the connection knocked down, Or try a friend who doesn't mind his line being held up for half a day, After that time, if you're still holding the line up, either the office doesn't have alarms or it is unattended during that time. ESS is almost impossible to use any kind of box with; move to a different area, Or find a friend who works in the switchroom to re-program the computer to give you the neat extra cost features like call forwarding free! California lodp around numbers vary widely across the state, but in Southern California the pattern is XXX-1118 and XXX-1119 or XXX-0118 and 0119. Most charge, some are free when called from the same area code but charge outside that area code. ~CALIFORNIA- SF CHRONICLE 12/16/73 Kidnapers Get Van, $3000 Oakland police were padlocks off the rear doors still looking yesterday for _of the van, grabbed the mon- ‘a telephone company van ey inside, then returned to stolen Wednesday after- the cab. noon by two men who kid- They drove to the Oakland. naped and robbed a wom- Hills. where the two men ‘an phone booth collector took an additional $21 from ‘of $3000 in coin. Mrs. Alesi and ordered her ‘Sergeant Ed Subica said oult of the van on Redwood Nancy Alesi. 21. had just road ear Skyline boule- completed her rounds and ard. ‘They lett her there was sitting in her Pacific 7d drove away inthe van, Telephone Co. van in front of 3617 Foothill boulevard at 1:35 p.th. when a man with a gun suddenly appeared be- side the van. ‘She told Subica the man pointed the gun through the window and erdered her to move over. As he got in be- hind the wheel. she said. a second man entered the van from the passenger side With Mrs. Alesi between them. the two drove tite locks to 33th and Hess avenues. where they stopped and the driver got out A third man, who was ay parently waiting for ther there. handed a pair of bolt cutters to the driver. who then got back in the van and drove off again. ‘They returned to an area near where the holdup be- fam and the driver got out again. Thie time he cut the Dear TAP, A friend showed me an amaziny catalog from American Colonial Armament, 1 Riverside Road, Riverside, Il. 60546, In addition to a large selection of electronic bugs, bug detectors, surveillance units, and other electro goodies, it contains weapons, police equipment, army sur- plus and books. Just about everything Abbie mentions in Steal This Book. It's a little right wingy in tone, but a real trip to read, Cost is $2.00, Keep up the excellent work, -OHIO- Dear TAP, Better tell people to turn off most if not all the power in the house when they pull the meter, When you put it back in, if there is a good load it could blow out, Just throw the main switch at the fuse box. There is a meter direct wired here that is working fine. ~FLORIDA- Dear TAP, Brainstorm! If you want to find out who owns a local #, call” the business office and say "Service rep please, 329 resid- ence (or whatever the exchange is, and whether business or residence)". The operator will switch you, and when the rep. answers, order an out-of-town directory. ‘They'll ask you a number of questions, and then they'll ask for your phone # so that they can get your name and address. Give them the number you want to check, and then wheh the rep comes on and says, "Alright, Mr. Roberts, I'll handle your request", complete the call and then check the direc- tory for which Mr. Roberts matches the number, This is a way to get around the telco ripoff of allowing law agencies to find who owns a number, but not Joe Public. ~TEXAS- Abbie's case has gone to court with a motion to drop all charges on the grounds that cocaine is improperly clas- sified as a narcotic with heroin, The judge complimented the defense on the extent of their research and document~ ation but refused the motion, His case goes to trial soon & money is desperately needed, so if you can help with a few bucks please send it to:Abbie Hoffman & Friends Defense Fund, 440 Broadway, N. ¥.,N.¥. 10012, don't send cash! TAP has courses on Basic Electricity that are easily understood, no matter how little knowledge of Electronics you already have. You learn by building useful projects and experiments such as those in TAP, In fact, you should be able to build any project in TAP after 6 courses, which are 50¢ each (free if you can't afford it). 3 courses are avail- able now, A-Basic Electricity, B-Alternating Current, and C-Basic Phones, with more coming Soon. We urge you to send for them if you want a quick education in electricity. Tf you want to meet other phreaks in your area, and are willing to be met, write to Meat. We'll accumulate a list of names and match you up with someone nearby as soon as possible, and notify you both, ‘T-shirts will be coming soon, but we don't have them yet. They'll look like choice no. 1 in Issue 22. TAP, ROOM 504, 152 W. 42 ST., NY.,N.Y. 10036