


--------------------------------------------------------[ May 22, 1990 ]-------

Pranks, Revenge, and General Mayhem     Another "no stupid group" Phile

______    ________    __________

\     \  /  \     \  /    |     |       (C) 1990 The Fixer

 \     \/    \     \/     |     |

  \          /\          /|     |       This Volume: More Phone Pranks

   \        /  \        / |     |

   /        \   \      /  |     |       THC....................+1 604 598-4259

  /          \   \    /   |     |       Dark Side of the Moon..+1 408 245-7726

 /     /\     \   \  /    |     |       Centre of Eternity.....+1 615 552-5747

/_____/  \_____\   \/     |_____|       The Convent............+1 619 475-6187

_______________________________________________________________________________



Preface: On May 9th, 1990, one of my users (of THC-BBS) called the Ripco BBS

         in Chicago, only to hear this voice message:



         "This is 528-5020.



          As you are probably aware, on May 8th, the Secret Service

          conducted a series of raids across the country.  Early news

          reports indicate that raids involved people and computers that

          could be connected to credit card and long distance toll fraud.

          Although no arrests or charges were made, the Ripco BBS was

          confiscated on that morning.  Its involvement at this time is

          unknown.  Since it's unlikely the system will ever return, I'd

          just like to say goodbye and thanks for your support for the

          last six and a half years.  It's been interesting to say the

          least.  Talk to you later."



          On behalf of THC, I would like to applaud Dr. Ripco on his

          running Ripco for 6.5 years, and express the condolences of myself

          and THC's users at the loss of Ripco's hardware.  It's been

          interesting, to say the least.



          The Fixer, May, 1990



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



DOWN TO BUSINESS: Fucking over your best friends, worst enemies, and

                  k00lest d00dz with their telephones.



Answering Machines

------------------



        There are several methods of ruining your friends' lives via their

        answering machines.  You can fill their incoming message tapes with

        bogus messages, you can turn them on/off remotely and hear/erase

        all the messages, and in some beauties, you can change the outgoing

        message.  The latter is the most devastating of all answering

        machine methods, and it will get the most space here.



- Most answering machines today have "beeperless remote" features, even in the

  bargain-basement models.  Normally they are protected by a security code

  of between 1 and 3 digits, and quite often even the 3-digit ones are

  so easily cracked it's disgusting.

  Once "inside" an answering machine, you can do a number of things.  Always,

  you will be able to hear, and later erase, any incoming messages.  This is

  helpful to the prankster in that it lets him intercept his target's

  important messages, indicating the target's future whereabouts for later

  attacks.  It also, of course, can be used to prevent the target from

  receiving important messages, with possible dire consequences to the

  target's social/work life.



- Another interesting feature of many answering machines is the ability to

  change the outgoing message.  When I bought my own unit, the last thing I

  asked the salesman was, "Can you change the outgoing message from remote?"

  As soon as he said "No" I bought it.  That's how you should shop for

  answering machines too, as is about to become clear...



  A few messages to replace a target's answering message with:



  Blackmail messages:



  "Hi, you have reached Wayne's House of Drugs.  Currently we have Home Boge,

   Mexican redhair, Black hash from California, crack and Ice in stock.  Please

   leave your name, phone number, and the amount and kind of poison you need

   and I'll get back to you.  Thanks and Party Hardy!  BEEEEEEP"



  "This is The Installer's Codeline.  Here are this weeks codes:

   604 385 9682 0194.  604 477 9980 6682.  604 727 4432 8282.   These are

   all BC Tel Calling Cards.  Please leave your codes at the tone.

   BEEEEEEEEP"



  A slightly less malignant blackmail message:



  "Hi, this is the Silva Residence.  No one can come to the phone right now

   since we're having our nightly session of hot steamy gay family orgy fun.

   As soon as we get out of the shower, we'll call you back.  See ya later,

   you hunk of man-meat you!   BEEEEEEEP"



  For a machine in a doctor's office:



  "You have reached Dr. Jones' office.  We are sorry, but this office is closed

   due to a pending malpractice suit.  Thank you for calling.  BEEEEEEP"



  For a known police informer (to wit: a NARC):



  "This is the Sidney RCMP.  There is no-one in the station to take your call

   right now.  If this is an emergency, officers are available at the

   Sidney Donut Shoppe, at 656-4983.   BEEEEEEEEP"

   (The above blackmail messages also work well for narcs)



  Universally useful:



  "This answering machine accepts all collect calls. (10 second pause while

   operator does her thing) Here are this weeks codes: (etc etc etc)"



  Here's something I have never tried, tell me if it works for you:



  Send your mark's machine several seconds of 2600 Hz and the appropriate

  MF coding for a nice faraway lame BBS or something, as the outgoing message.

  Then advertise (anonymously) on some other faraway BBSes the existence of a

  new BBS with no download ratios, 25,000 files, etc etc etc.  What happens is

  that when someone calls LD (and they will), the answering machine will start

  blue boxing.  The phone company will not be pleased.



  I'm sure you can think of a lot more.



- Here are a few hints and pointers:  My ex-roomie, a consummate dick-head

  worthy of everything he has gotten in the process of beta testing these

  pranks (He's the Wayne in Wayne's House of Drugs BTW) has a nice Cobra

  answering machine.  Well, not only did he pay 3 times for his machine as

  much as I paid for mine, but his has only a wimpy one-digit code (it's 5)

  and lets you change the outgoing message from remote.  Other answering

  machines have a 2 or 3 digit combination but actually accept ANY digit on

  the row or column of the "actual" code number, thus bringing the number of

  possible codes down to near-zero.  Still other machines have stupid

  codes like 123, 369, etc (some of those are the previous kind).  Almost

  all answering machine codes are hardcoded; I have seen dip-switches and

  PC-mounted rotary switches allowing owners to change their codes at will,

  but these beauties are rare, fortunately.  The best thing you can do is

  acquire a library of users manuals for various machines to learn their code

  conventions and instruction sets.  This can be readily accomplished by

  hanging out in department stores etc that sell the things.



There is no Canadian Law explicitly dealing with answering-machine

tampering, but all of these pranks can lead to your being charged with

common mischief at the least.  Caveat Trickstor.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Linemans' Handset Methods

-------------------------



        Please don't refer to a homebuilt lineman's handset as a "bud

        box", "brown box", "beige box", "tan box", "modu box", "terminal

        box", or anything else so lame.  There is no technical wizardry

        in ripping the mod plug off your phone and replacing it with

        'gator clips. If you can get a real handset, do so because they

        are specially ballasted to allow near-silent line interception

        whereas modified Flip-fone ]['s will always generate a nice

        clunk on the line when you attach, and often will even tinkle

        the bell on phones in your target's house.



        Using a handset to do nothing but place phree phone kawlz is

        lame; the true misanthrope phreak knows the true power of his

        tool.



- Custom calling!  It's been said that the only person you can't prank is

  someone who lives in a cave as a hermit.  And it's true in phoneland too,

  the more services your target subscribes to, the easier it is to have

  phun with his miserable little life.  Take call forwarding.  If your mark

  has this most useful of services, you've got it made.  Goto your target's

  phone terminal box-ette on the side of his house one fine sunday morning

  (revenge on the Lord's Day is no sacrilege to an anarchist) at 4:30, clip

  on your awesome modu-box, and try a few of these little gems:



        :Forward all his calls to 911, the police or Fire Dep't.

         Guaranteed results at the very first incoming call.



        :Forward calls to Dial-A-Prayer, Dial-A-Meditation (we have a

         great Sri Chinmoy recording in Victoria, BC, at 604-595-2721).

         I used to do this with my own line sometimes, it really fucks

         incoming callers minds up.



        :Forward calls to yourself.  Risky, but if your mark doesn't

         have an answering machine you can use your own machine to use

         the above-mentioned Answering Machine methods.



        :Forward calls long-distance.  In 604, calls that are forwarded

         long-distance are paid for by the forwarding party, i.e. your

         target.  It should work the same in many other area codes too,

         call your local telco customer service rep to find out.  This

         can have horrible implications...



        :...if you forward those calls to a BBS, or better still a

         code-line and advertise your mark's number as the "new local

         node for the MegaLeech AE".



        :Forwarding to a 1-900 or 1-976 dial-it service works well too.

         Since most of these are voice-only, it is very easy to program

         a large number of people to start calling your mark on short

         notice, and the target gets stuck with the bill.



        :Forwarding to your phone comany's local security office is a

         sign of true arrogance on your part, as everyone gets hosed.

         Do it sometime.



        :Forward calls to a number that is not in service.  Effect is

         self explanatory.



        :Set your own (or another target's) call forwarding to forward

         to your primary target.  Then have the target's forwarding set

         to your own number (or the secondary target).  Can you say

         endless forwarding loop?  Be warned that some phoneco's have

         gotten wind of this concept and installed anti-loop safeguards.



        :Forward calls to just about anything offensive and blackmailable,

         gay sex lines, the Nazi Party, the KKK, the Jehovah's Witnesses,

         need I get graphic?



        :Forward to voice-mail systems.  These are great as most will

         record MF tones so the abovementioned blue-boxing-answering-machine

         trick will work, in a roundabout way, via forwarding.  They also

         let you wash your hands clean of any answering-machine/forwarding

         combos you pull.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Electrical Fun

--------------



        As any phone freak worthy of his k-bud box knows, telephones

        require certain specific voltage levels in order to operate.  Run them

        too far below these voltages, and they crap out and die.  Run them too

        high, and they blow up and melt.



- An old trick, but it has been such a great standby for tricksters, no

  phone tricks file is complete without it:  Drive to your target's

  residence (4:30 AM on a sunday is definitely the best time for this).

  Have an accomplice keep the motor running and the car door open.  Head

  on up to that trusty little grey box on the side of Mr. Victim's

  house, and attach the 'gator clip ends of your "suicide plug" to the

  phone terminals.  Now, I sure hope you brought a LONG suicide plug

  because it is likely that the only outside 120VAC outlet on the house

  is on the other side.  Murphy's law applies to revenge just as in any

  other walk of life so be prepared.  Now, when you plug that suicide

  plug into Mr. Outside Outlet on Mr. Victim's house, the effect will be

  immediate and striking: Every phone in the house will ring loudly and

  violently.  Older mechanical phones might survive having 110 VAC

  running through them continuously for several minutes, but electronic

  phones and especially MODEMS will be destroyed.  You run the risk of

  being charged with arson if you are caught, so don't be.  RUN, don't

  walk, to your waiting getaway vehicle and HAUL ASS OUTA THERE before

  someone comes to the window and gets your licence plate.  If you don't

  mind paying a price for your assured freedom, placing a timer ($9.95

  at London Drugs for the cheapest light timers) on the suicide plug

  will give you a nice safe delay but you'll miss the fireworks...



- "The Scarlet Box" was a resistor, circa 600 ohms, placed across the

   phone terminals.  It had the effect of putting a load on the line

   that caused horrible noise.  Another thing to do is try a capacitor

   instead, a nice non-polarised electrolytric can.  It does wonders to

   the lines bandwidth.



- How about this: Basic phone service carries its audio on a DC bias

  "carrier."  Transformers and capacitors don't like DC but they pass AC

  just fine.  So, put a cap in series on the line.  Phone rings, yes,

  because ringing voltage is AC.  Phone give dial tone?  Noooooo....

  Fixer stop talking in Taiwanese english now.



- If your mark's phone terminal box is adjacent to several others, or

  shares a box with others, then start connecting them together in

  parallel. Make sure you match rings with rings, tips with tips.  Many

  interesting effects.  Krazy Glue the boxes shut when you're done to

  "save your changes" permanently.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Well, that's it.  This file is probably 100% illegal and banned by law,

but damned if I'm not going to exercise my right to copyright it.  This

file is not in the public domain.  Sysops of other BBSes are licensed to

distribute it free of charge on the sole condition that it is

distributed in its entirety and with all bylines and copyrights intact,

and with no text added. I've been in the IBM world too long, you can

probably tell, but it roast my butt what some lamers are doing to decent

text files these days.



(C) 1990 The Fixer.







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 Another file downloaded from:                               NIRVANAnet(tm)



 & the Temple of the Screaming Electron   Jeff Hunter          510-935-5845

 Rat Head                                 Ratsnatcher          510-524-3649

 Burn This Flag                           Zardoz               408-363-9766

 realitycheck                             Poindexter Fortran   415-567-7043

 Lies Unlimited                           Mick Freen           415-583-4102



   Specializing in conversations, obscure information, high explosives,

       arcane knowledge, political extremism, diversive sexuality,

       insane speculation, and wild rumours. ALL-TEXT BBS SYSTEMS.



  Full access for first-time callers.  We don't want to know who you are,

   where you live, or what your phone number is. We are not Big Brother.



                          "Raw Data for Raw Nerves"



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