The bad guys have been using TTY/Telephone Relay for a long time. I saw reports about it as early as 2004 and it probably goes back before that. The fraudsters use the TTY to hide their true location and probably also their accent. The problem was so serious that there was a bulletin board for TTY Operators to vent their frustrations. They knew what was going on but, by law and company policy, were not permitted to tip off the merchants.
The new twist on this is that bad guys in the latest version are posing as the shippers, not the buyers. Not only does the unsuspecting merchant loose the goods or services, they also loose the purchase price plus shipping. The bad guy gets the goods and the cost of the goods too!
So far, we know about merchant victims in Washington, Idaho, Tennessee, Colorado, and Georgia.
Read the information from the Better Business Bureau for a full explanation.
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