A Winchester small business was stuck with a crippling phone bill after the company president said the phone system was hacked.
On payroll day for New Moon Medical President Ben Worthington had to be very sure about each check he writes. Because of what happened one night a few weeks ago, he’s pinching every penny.
“We found out that somebody had hacked the phone system and used the system to dial international calls,” Worthington explained.
He said he learned the hackers made more than 200 calls in 2 hours, to be exact. Each call went to the same phone number in Buenavista, Cuba.
http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php
Days later when he checked the mail, he found his phone bill with Time Warner-Spectrum totaled $10,000 after taxes. It’s normally just over $300.
“That’s a very heavy burden that a small business like ours finds it very hard to absorb that kind of hit,” He said.
Worthington filed reports with Winchester Police and the FBI. He soon learned this type of fraud isn’t rare.
In fact, a 2015 survey by the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) found it was the most common kind of communications fraud, totaling $3.9 billion worldwide.
“This is happening to a lot of small businesses all across the country,” Worthington said.
Worthington’s small business has since made changes which he said prevented more hacking attempts. He hopes other small businesses do the same.
Experts suggest companies change the pass codes for their phone systems and cancel international calling if it’s not needed. Companies can also upgrade their phone system or purchase a firewall for it.
“They should know their system and be able to make some changes on it so that it’s less vulnerable to these types of attacks,” He said.
Worthington said although he still stuck with the massive bill, he hopes Time Warner-Spectrum won’t make him pay. His bill is currently being disputed. He is awaiting the company’s decision.
We reached out to Time Warner-Spectrum’s parent company Charter for comment and got no response.
A representative with the FBI’s Louisville office had no specific information about this case or the type of fraud. He referred us to the Bureau’s website, which contains information about a number or types of fraud.
