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Texas Probes Cell Phone Calling Record Sales

Missouri Files Suit Against Locatecell.com

July 27, 2006

Calling Records • FTC Shuts Down Pretexting Operation • Phone Pretexters Get Off Cheap • Verizon Wireless Changes Customer Data Policy • FCC Strengthens Rules For Phone Privacy • House Tries Once More to Pass Pretexting Bill • Pretexting Bill: Pretense or Reality? • Hewlett-Packard Pays $14.5 Million to Settle Pretexting Suit • HP Scandal Ignites New Pretexting Battle In Congress • AT&T Sues Calling Record Brokers • Sprint Nextel Settles Case with Florida Data Broker • Feds Sue Calling Record Vendors • Illinois Lawsuit Charges Data Brokerages • Florida Judgment to End Data Broker's Business • Florida Investigates Fake Caller IDs • California Sues Data Trace USA for $10 Million • Missouri Sues Datatraceusa.com • Florida Sues Data Broker Over Sale of Phone Records • Texas Sues Companies Selling Telephone Calling Records • Websites Hawking Phone Records Shut Down • FTC Vows to Stop Illicit Sale of Cell Phone Calling Records • FTC Pledges "Vigorous" Pursuit of Cell Phone Record Sales • AT&T Accused of Eavesdropping, Calling Record Sales • Sprint Sues Cell Phone Record Brokers • Missouri Shuts Down Locatecell.com • Texas Probes Cell Phone Calling Record Sales, Missouri Files Suit • Illinois Sues Company Selling Cell Phone Calling Records • Outcry Over Sale of Cell Phone Calling Records

Two more states are cracking down on the sale of cell phone calling records. Texas said it is opening an "extensive investigation" and Missouri filed suit against one of the companies allegedly selling the records over the Internet.

"This is a serious breach of personal privacy," said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. "The business of using trickery to obtain consumers' cell phone records amounts to nothing more than the illegal trafficking of private information."

"There are tremendous privacy concerns at stake here," said Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said, who filed suit against Locatecell.com. "The phone records of citizens, companies or anyone else should not be available to whoever has a credit card."

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued the company last week after Chicago police complained that undercover officers' lives were put at risk by criminals purchasing the officers' cell phone records.

In Missouri, an undercover investigator from Nixon's office initiated an online transaction with Locatecell.com to purchase the records of calls made on his own private cell phone. The investigator received the records a few days later.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are First Data Solutions Inc. and its principal owner, James Kester, of Knoxville, Tenn.; and 1st Source Information Specialists Inc., of Tamarac, Fla., and its director Kenneth W. Gorman, of Jensen Beach, Fla.

According to the defendants' Web site at www.locatecell.com, for $65, anyone may enter a cell phone number and then will receive the name and address of the cell phone user.

For $110, anyone can enter a cell phone number and Locatecell.com will provide a list of calls made from that number. Nixon said the defendants do not have authorization from the wireless and cellular telephone service providers to access the customer information and records that they advertise on their Web site.

"We believe this information has been obtained illegally, and we're asking the court to stop the dissemination of this information," Nixon said.

Texas AG Abbott said he has also contacted cell phone providers regarding the actions they are taking to better safeguard customer information.

Online data marketers promoting the calling record services charge between $50 and $200 for obtaining records of specific cellular phone calls, usually those made over the previous 30 days. Some Web companies falsely tell their customers that these records are public information.

To halt the business practices and to prevent the further spread of these Web sites, Abbott said he was demanding information from several dozen pirate Web companies illegally claiming to have access to private cell phone records for a price. The results of the investigation will determine what legal action may be warranted, he said.

Attorney General Abbott's investigation will also focus on liabilities against those who conduct transactions that open consumers to possible dangers, including possible victims whose information may have fallen into the wrong hands.

Some cell phone users, for example, may seek anonymity because they are protecting themselves from an abusive ex-spouse or a person stalking them. There are also concerns about the release of phone records of officers who work undercover.

What You Can Do

To prevent such abuses, Attorney General Abbott urges consumers to contact their cell phone companies to find out if any party has requested their cell phone records. Otherwise, consumers may have no way of knowing if their privacy has been breached.

Consumers may also request a unique password-protected account through their cell phone companies to prevent others from accessing these records.

The Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission are also investigating.

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