Terrorists clone phones - but customers expected to foot the bill

Canadian telecom service provider Rogers Communications has been the victim of numerous number-cloning operations by the terrorist group Hezbollah — in which even the phone number of CEO Ted Rogers was “borrowed” — but steadfastly refused to address consumer complaints about the problem, insisting that customers were liable for outsized bills. However, all that changed after aggrieved consumer (and law professor) Susan Drummond — who was stuck with a bill for over $10,000 for calls to countries such as Libya, Pakistan, Russia and Syria — recorded comments made by a Rogers security exec, who admitted that the company had suffered cloning problems at the hands of Hezbollah going back as far as 1997. Drummond took the company to small-claims court, publicized the incident, and eventually received a public apology from CEO Rogers himself. At least we think it was Rogers. After all, it could have been Sheik Hassan Nasrallah running up the CEO’s bill one more time.

[Adam Grant @ Dec 21st 2005 1:06PM]

Susan Drummond, eh? She was one of my professors last year. I always love it when Engadget stories hit close to home.