Bandwidth theft - procedure and contacts to solve

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New Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
8
Well, if someone steals your bandwith, steal someones else's. Its not that hard! Search on google for how to do it!

And I agree. Most Countries have uncapped broadband which is half the price of what Telkom charges and the lines is twice or more as fast!
 

dominic

Legal Expert: Telecoms
Joined
Sep 7, 2004
Messages
7,329
yeah yeah

according to SAIX the following procedure must be followed before telkom will disclose the details of the telephone line as indicated in the ports recorded by your ISP's connection report

1. open a fraud case with SAPS
2. provide the investigating officer with the relevant log reports as obtained from your ISP
3. investigating officer must then subpoena SAIX for
- telephone numbers of different ports as indicated
- physical installation address of the telephone numbers
- registered owner of the telephone number provided

the SAPS will then issue out a criminal summons to that registered owner if justified

[i am dealing with a person charged with fraud in this manner at the moment - will update as and when]
 

signal

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
24
Your credit card is in the post!

Could you imagine the uproar (and fraud) if the banks sent all of our credit cards to us in the post with default PIN codes of say 11111, expecting us to change the PIN "as soon as we recieved them"??!!!

Let's face facts, the average Home/SOHO user hasn't got a clue when it comes to setting up a router so it falls upon the installer to change the settings. In the majority of bandwidth theft cases that I know of the client has recently had their router installed by Telkom or in one case had been stupid enough to give out their account details to a Telkom support "engineer". (Their support desk expects that the password has NOT been changed!)

My question is: Why are Telkom installation techinicians not trained to ask each client to change their modem password during the installation? When you get your PIN code from the bank, or when you're being assisted with your very first transaction at a bank the importance and confidentiality of your PIN is explained CAREFULLY so that you understand what you're dealing with.

Oh, and whilst I'm at it... If anyone from the training section of Telkom actually reads this, please include the following in the training too: 1) Turn off wireless if the client is not going to use it. 2) Change the SSID so the client knows which is his and finally 3) Hide the SSID so that the neighbours' bored kids don't see it as a challenge!
 

shadow_man

Executive Member
Joined
May 27, 2005
Messages
6,200
Bandwidth theft.

Question: How the hell are you going to lay a char of bandwidth theft if they access your wifi router, theres no phone port to track, no isp ip, no anything really. How would bandwidth theft via wifi be charged and how would they find someone guilty, let alone find the individual

J
 

greywolve

Active Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
40
what i find funny is most of the people complaining about bandwidth theft are probably using that very same bandwidth to download illegal movies, series, mp3s, apps etc, yet i don't see a thread of getting the police to bust people that do that :)

change your router password, end of story, problem solved.
 

The_Unbeliever

Honorary Master
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
103,196
Question: How the hell are you going to lay a char of bandwidth theft if they access your wifi router, theres no phone port to track, no isp ip, no anything really. How would bandwidth theft via wifi be charged and how would they find someone guilty, let alone find the individual

J

Throw kiddie pr0n into the mix, and things get ugly real quick...

Best thing to do (before the schitte hits the fan) is to install a proper firewall with proper access control and logging - this will go a long step in assisting you what happened and where.
 

jeinnor30

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2005
Messages
270
Telkom and ADSL theft

This is just my 2c worth

1. There are some people here who have / still are using these accounts that are going around, they are not legit as some people say, just tell them that you heard that someone got arrested for adsl account theft and then ask them where they got those accounts. See how quickly they change their tune.

2. I had a client who was being charged for 3 adsl accounts every month, now I know their statement each month said so, but they did not check and were only using 2 of them each month because for some reason they thought that is all they had. I have heard of someone else saying that they were paying for 2 accounts and only realised it months down the line, so I ask you, who is the thief now ? I am sure these 2 business are not the only 2 in the whole of SA that this is being done to.

3. I did an installation recently on a Draytek router for a client, WOW. Because there is so much talk about account theft, I did what you can do on any of the local routers, I viewed the source, where the password is is ***** and the password is encrypted. Wonder how long it is going to be before that starts here?

4. Because adsl is so expensive in SA does not make it right to steal accounts, it would be nice however to get permanent adsl uncapped at a reasonable price that everyone can afford.
 

Armizael

Senior Member
Joined
May 31, 2006
Messages
642
Best solution is to uncapped everyone...

IMO this is pretty stupid.

People stealing Ferrari's should not justify lowering their prices. Stealing is wrong, end of story.

OH NOES TELKOM HAS EXPENSIVE PRICES.

Deal with it. It isn't going to change. Hope all the people stealing accounts gets thrown in jail and get whats coming to them. I can't take these 12 year olds bitching about not having money for accounts and stealing from other people. It's childish and criminal, even if it is just a R200 account.

What's next? Can't afford a pc, so go steal one somewhere?
 

ADSL Newbie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
120
So THIS will be right??

So when I get my ADSL line (hopefully in this week...) , I'd be fine if I changed the modem password before ever going online...?

The Bandwith-Thieves won't be able to somehow still get my account info??
Or should I still change my account password as well?
 

Mort

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
10
To suggest that all ADSL users should know how to change router passwords is not only absurd, but exceedingly arrogant. It's akin to saying because you drive a car, you're an idiot if you don't know how to bleed the brakes.

I actually went to the trouble of registering so that I could reply to this gem...

I wouldnt equate it to bleeding the brakes on your car, I would rather compare changing your router password to wearing your seatbelt - its a safety precaution. If you have an accident and go flying through the windscreen are you going to plead ignorance?

Now if somebody asked you to recode the firmware on the router you might be a little closer in your comparison...

;)

As an addendum I personally think the arrogance is on the part of the ignorant for expecting entire systems to change just so that they do not have go to the effort of reading up.
 

Mort

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
10
Could you imagine the uproar (and fraud) if the banks sent all of our credit cards to us in the post with default PIN codes of say 11111, expecting us to change the PIN "as soon as we recieved them"??!!!

Whereas a card and pin can be intercepted and used immediately, you first have to connect a router before anyone can hijack it.

And correct me if Im wrong, but the protection of a persons pin and card ultimately lies with them?

I have yet to find a bank that will refund you when you say "But I changed the pin to 1111 because it was easier to remember" :confused:

As an interesting side note, bank cards and pins sent via post in the UK, seperately of course.
 

Windmill

Active Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Messages
58
telkom extra gig pacckages costing a fortune

When I get capped, used my first 3 gb, i phone telkom and purchase an extra 3 gb, new user name and password "online123456". This i did in November 2006. Over the Xmas holidays purchased a further 3 gb, new user name and password. This is achieved by purchasing a user name and password good for 3 gb. What telkom did not tel was that the extra accounts are rolled over each month and charged for unless telephonically cancelled at the end of the month. Come January ran out of cap again so purchased another account. Then my phone bill arrived. Invoiced for Jan-Feb 2007 for all new accounts plus retrospectively for dec. Ive simplified this but this is what happened effectively. Nobody told me about the "rolled over" accounts. Phoned up and cancelled every thing I could. Just got my Feb phone bill. No detail of the extra cap aacounts, just over R600 and nobody at telkom to ask for a reconciliation. When are caps to be cancelled "the online123456 ones" on phone bill date or month end? Where are customers informed when and how and why to cancel extra cap purchased? If my phone bill date is 15 th of month must I cancell extra cap accounts on 14 th or last day? If i do not use an "online123456" extra cap account at all does it still get charged?
 

fismail

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2003
Messages
993
i've sent the thread link to a person in Telkom in charge of certain aspects of ADSL , lets see what his reply may be ...

i see there have been quite a number of threads relating to bandwidth theft but it does not seem as if many people have got satisfactory results

i believe that the SAPS now have a specific form dealing with this kind of crime (at least they do in the western cape) but it seems that the problem is finding the right person at the ISP to help out

does anyone have any contacts of people who can assist with this? I am in particular looking for the number of someone in telkom / telkominternet who is authorised to assist users who have had bandwidth stolen...

any help greatly appreciated

SF
 

ADSL Newbie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
120
Mine's been stolen...

Hey guys...

I got my ADSL a little more than a week ago.
Got myself a 3GB TelkomInternet account for International, OpenWeb for Local.
Yesterday I finally figured out how to check my Telkom usage stats online and was VERY surprised to see my total usage @ 3.1359GB - That in ONE week on a 384Kb connection having used my INTL connection exclusively for playing Call of Duty 2.

Today I went to visit my parents' and when I returned tonight I was capped at 6.2GB..

So obviously I've been infiltrated somehow by some geek...

I was very precise (or that I thought) when I installed my ADSL.
Changed my Router's password (although passwords aren't on my modem seeing that I'm using Route Sentry.)
Changed my Telkom account's password.
I'm using a static IP.

1. - What can I do to prevent this from happening again?
2. - How can I trace the responsible person if this ever happens again?
3. - How did this mofo get my information?

I've read through this thread but it seems useless...

What I would prefer is to be able to somehow trace the guy responsible and NOT bringing in the help of the police but sorting the matter out myself. - Taking the law into my own hands would be MUCH more satisfactory than to see the responsible person get arrested!

Ant ideas on how I could make my computer more safe, and secondly on how to maybe trace the responsible person?
 
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Praeses

Expert Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2005
Messages
4,932
Make sure you have a DECENT anti virus like AVG free or Avast. Anti spyware programS: AVG Anti spyware, Spybot Search and Destroy, Spywareblaster, Lavasoft Adaware.
Software firewall with program control to prevent unauthorized programs from dialing home.

good luck with bloem's police. Don't know how you're going to explain to them what ADSL is :p
 

Cataphract

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
141
Your complaint, if accepted, will be on a detective's desk, right there under the 400 murder dockets and 12000 unsolved rape cases, which is buried under the 50000 aggravated armed robbery files. :-(
 
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