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US Small Firm Fighting AT&T Over $1,25 Million Phone Bill
Published on:
USA based AT&T is facing a court battle to recover what it says is US$1.25 million in unpaid phone bills after an office PBX was hacked into by criminals who used it to rack up phone bill in international phone calls.
The phone service for the small Ipswich based manufacturing firm is actually provided by Verizon Communications, who spotted an unusually high level of international calls over the weekend in 2009 and blocked the facility for making such calls.
However, that still left the office switch open to the hackers to use, and they used it to route calls via AT&T's network instead.
Although Verizon has written off the $260,000 worth of calls made over its network, AT&T is pursuing the case to recover nearly US$900,000 in phone calls, plus interest.
Michael Smith, owner of Todd Tool and Abrasive Systems told the local Salem News that the size of the bill would force his company into bankruptcy.
The issue at stake concerns whether Todd Tools took sufficient care in securing its office PBX system, which was used by the company's 14 staff to remotely dial in to check voicemails. If they can prove that the security was lax, then they expect to secure a judgment demanding repayment.
Smith has filed a countersuit accusing AT&T of abuse of the legal process and violation of state consumer protection laws.
On the web: Salem News
Tags: [at&t] [verizon communications] [USA]
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