10

LANDLINE TELEPHONES AND ANSWERING MACHINES

In 1977, California millionaire Gary Allen Bandy purchased land near the rural community of Gardiner on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. He then proceeded to build a castle and other medieval buildings, bringing in artists to carve intricate Norwegian trolls on wooden posts. He was subsequently featured in the National Enquirer as an eccentric millionaire surrounded by his medieval buildings and trolls.

In 1991, a son was born to Gary and his wife, Eva. Later, they separated, and in 1995, divorce proceedings were begun. Eva hired attorney Natalie De Maar. Gary hired attorney Steven Fields. Bitter charges flew back and forth as Gary and Eva battled for custody of son Geoff, now four.

Eva Bandy rented a home in the upscale community of Gig Harbor, at the northern end of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The owner lived just across the street. His name was James Wilburn, and he was a private investigator. What followed next was the subject of an article in the Peninsula Daily News:

Bandy’s attorney, Steven Fields, was leaving a voice-mail message for Eva Bandy’s attorney, Natalie De Maar. He was using the speakerphone. Sitting in his office was Bandy and another attorney. Fields thought he disconnected the speakerphone and proceeded to have a conversation with Bandy.

What Fields failed to realize was that the speakerphone was not disconnected. Therefore, when Bandy admitted that he had hired an investigator to put a wiretap on his wife’s phone, his words were being recorded on attorney Natalie De Maar’s answering-machine tape. The tape eventually wound up in the hands of the FBI, who then raided Bandy’s home at Gardiner Beach and his fifty-foot yacht at a nearby marina. A week later, Bandy was arrested while on a trip through Idaho.

What have we learned so far?

1. Some PIs will bug cars and residences if the pay is right.

2. Some lawyers cannot be trusted with confidential information.

3. When it comes to speakerphones (to paraphrase Murphy’s law), any mistake that can be made will be made, and at the worst possible moment.

We can learn more. Because he ordered an illegal wiretap. Gary Allen Bandy was sentenced to two months in prison and five years of probation. He was also fined $21,138.

Attorney Steven Fields did not go to jail. There are no laws against stupidity.

The private investigator did not go to jail. The article did not say if he turned state’s evidence, so I can only state a general truth: No matter how much you trust an attorney, a doctor, a CPA, or a private investigator, when a prosecutor starts talking jail time, these and other professionals will give you up in a heartbeat. (The G. Gordon Liddy types are a disappearing species.)

TELEPHONE SECURITY

“Telephone security” is an oxymoron because a telephone conversation is never secure. The calls go over hard lines, may be beamed up and down from satellites, or travel via digital or analog radio waves, and they can be intercepted.

If you have any deep dark secrets to tell, and if you suspect you may be under surveillance, it’s best to just write a letter and mail it inside a post office.

UNLISTED NUMBERS

An unlisted number is no longer the protection it used to be. Many unlisted telephone numbers are now available on the Internet (often requiring a small fee), and reverse searches are available as well.

Example: You obtain an unlisted landline with call blocking. Nevertheless, you one day need to call some company and all they list is a toll-free number. All such numbers (800, 888, 877, and 866) have Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and once you call them, your unlisted number is captured. Eventually your number will be in various databases available to private investigators. It may even show up on databases available to the general public.

Further, many Level Three PIs have contacts inside both cell and landline companies who can run a search by either a name, or an address. Once your number is obtained, that can lead to your street address. Therefore, use extreme caution before giving out your home telephone number. Instead (as outlined in chapter 11), use a pager number or a prepaid cell phone number to the general public.

HOW TO LIST YOUR NAME

Given that—despite having an unlisted telephone number—the name you give the telephone company may show up on a national database, do your best to disguise it. Try one of the following:

• Wife’s middle name and maiden name.

• Your middle name or initial, and last name.

• The name of a friend or relative (find someone with a very common name) who is willing to have the phone put in their middle/last or middle/maiden names.

Another system that many have used successfully is to explain that you are a writer and that your telephone number must be listed in your well-known pen name. (In this case, you may choose to have the name listed.) The usual procedure is that you will be instructed to go to one of the company’s offices and prove your true identity, so they have that for their files. They will then allow you to list whatever name you’ve chosen. The trick here is to choose the most common name you can think of, with no middle initial, so that the name will be lost in a sea of similar names.

I am partial to first names like John, Robert, Mary, and Elizabeth, with surnames such as Johnson, Cohen, McDonald, Anderson, Rodriguez, and Brown. If moving to a new area, I’d first spend an hour or two with the local telephone directory—checking for the most common names in that area. Many will be identical, which is of course what you want.

HOW NOT TO ANSWER THE TELEPHONE

Let’s say your names are Lawrence and Jennifer Barrington but your telephone is in the name of Jennifer’s middle name plus her maiden name, i.e., Suzanne Martin. Until the present moment, you or members of your family may have been answering the telephone with phrases such as:

“Larry Barrington here.”

“Barrington residence.”

“Hi, this is Jenny!”

However, what if the telephone company is calling? Remember, the name they have for this residence is Suzanne Martin. Or, it could be a private detective on the line, or a process server with a subpoena in his pocket. Therefore, a simple “Hello” or “Good morning” will suffice. Let the caller be the one to mention a name, and when necessary, answer with a question. For example:

Caller A: Good morning! How are you today, sir?

You: What are you selling? (When “How are you?” rather than your name, follows “Hello,” you know it’s a salesperson.)

Caller B: Ms. Suzanne Martin?

You: What is this in reference to, please?

Caller B: This is Cora with the Crystal County Sheriff’s Department. (Not to panic. Don’t speak; wait for more information.)

Caller B: We’re sponsoring the Crystal County Crusade Against Crime, and for a small donation you can—

You: Suzanne won’t be back from Italy for at least two months, but thank you for calling, good-bye.

Practice beforehand, and in time you’ll stop getting sweaty hands and an accelerated heartbeat.

CHANGING YOUR LISTING

If you are not yet willing or able to move to a new location, you may still contact the telephone company to say you are moving away. (If asked, tell them you are moving to Mexico City or to London. Set a date for the service to be discontinued.)

A few days or weeks later, order a new telephone, which will of course have a different number. If you are using someone else to do this for you, have him or her make the call. This person will not admit to having had service before, nor will a SSN be given.

Since no credit history is available, the telephone company will ask for a cash deposit to ensure payment. Stop by their offices or mail in a money order for the requested amount—usually a few hundred dollars. Assuming you pay your bills on time, expect your deposit to be returned to you at the end of one year.

CORDLESS PHONES

Despite the booming market in cell phones, not everyone is getting rid of their landline phones—many if not most of which are cordless. The sound quality is still better than any cell phone, and the new models are better than ever, thanks to 1.9 GHz DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications). Some models support Bluetooth technology. This means you can route cell calls through your cordless phone, giving you better reception in otherwise hard-to-reach places.

Nevertheless, technology advances too quickly to endorse any kind of normal telephone. The below is from theregister.co.uk:

Cryptographers have broken the proprietary encryption used to prevent eavesdropping on more than 800 million cordless phones worldwide, demonstrating once again the risks of relying on obscure technologies to remain secure. The attack is the first to crack the cipher at the heart of the DECT, or Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, which encrypts radio signals as they travel between cordless phones in homes and businesses and corresponding base stations.

For one possible exception, see the first question at the end of this chapter.

THE TELEPHONE AT THE OTHER END

When you make a sensitive call, make sure the person at the other end is on a secure line. A few years ago, I called an older woman who at that time lived in a large trailer court on one of the islands in Puget Sound, Washington. As the conversation grew more serious, she said, “Just a minute, Jack, I’m going to switch to a more secure telephone on a second line.”

Oh-oh! When she came back on the line, I learned she had an old, cheap cordless phone. And even more troubling, she then told me she knew her calls were being monitored. She said there were some “militia types” in the trailer court, and that some of the neighbors had made comments about conversations she’d had on the portable phone!

A really serious problem arises when you call someone whose telephone—unknown to them—is tapped. In that case, no matter what preventive measures have been taken, your home number will be revealed. If, therefore, you are wary that the person you are calling may be under surveillance, go to the extra trouble of communicating in some other way.

“HACKER-PROOF” ANSWERING MACHINES

There is no such thing as a hacker-proof answering machine. If I were an electronics engineer, that would be my first project—to invent a secure answering machine. One PI I know, who employs six agents, says this is at the top of his wishlist—a number where his agents could call in to leave and pick up messages in absolute secrecy.

As this is written, there is an ongoing controversy involving the News of the World and other British tabloid newspapers published by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. It appears that employees of the newspaper have been engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of publishing stories, especially in regards to celebrities, politicians, and members of the British Royal Family. The FBI is now investigating complaints that they may have been accessing voice mails of some Americans as far back as September 2001.

Currently, a Level Three PI can not only check the messages on your answering machine, he can record them and then delete them before you even have a chance to listen to them. Think about that one, eh?

CALLS TO 911

When you call 911, your true address shows up on the operator’s monitor, along with whatever name your telephone service is under. If it is listed in another name, will you be able to give a reason for this when the police arrive? (Even if the call was for an ambulance, the police usually arrive first.) To illustrate both the problem and the solution, consider the experience we once had in a western state.

I was sitting at my computer, working on the 2004 version of this book, when I happened to glance out the window. Here came Walter, one of my neighbors at that time, dragging his big black dog on a leash, racing up to my door. He started pounding on it before I could get there to open.

“A horse just fell on Julie,” he exclaimed, pointing to the east pasture, “and she broke her leg! Call 911!”

Thoughts raced through my aging brain: If I call 911 on the landline, my call blocking will not work. Our phone was in another name. I would be asked for my name, and it would be compared with the readout on the computer screen. While I stood at the door, hesitating not more than two seconds, Walter spread his hands out and shouted, “JACK, CALL 911!”

Better, I decided, to use my cell phone. I dashed back into the house, grabbed my cell phone out of its charging unit, and called 911.

This is 911 said a female voice, adding the name of the county.

I’m calling from a cell phone and—

Yes, I know. What is the emergency?

A lady just had an accident with her horse and broke her leg.

Where is the location? (I described the general location of the pasture.)

How old is this lady?

I don’t know, maybe fifty or sixty.

Where are you now? (I named the road and said I would wait there to direct the emergency vehicle.)

What is your name and where do you live?

One moment please, something has just—(At this point I punched the power off on my cell phone.)

I went to the street and was there to direct the emergency vehicle in on the proper lane. A neighbor was already on the scene with a blanket, so I evaporated before any of the crew could ask me if I was the one who called.

In chapter 5, I discussed the case of a Miami police detective’s wife who called 911 and thus revealed their true address. They then had to sell their home and move. But did she have any options? I think she did, and you would do well to review these alternatives with other members of your family.

1. If she had a cell phone (and she should have!), she could have used that to make the call to 911.

2. Had prior arrangements been set up, she could have called a friend who would in turn call 911 from her home, directing the ambulance to such-and-such an address where the detective’s wife was visiting.

3. When checking in at the hospital, she could have given their ghost address, adding that she was just housesitting for a friend when the emergency came up.

WATCH OUT FOR THIS SNEAKY TRICK

Suppose a private investigator wants to hear you talking to your lawyer (or mistress, or whomever). He may place a conference call, recording every word. Here is how it works. The first call would go to you, and when you answer, the PI punches HOLD and then speed-dials your lawyer. You start saying, “Hello? Hello?” Then your lawyer comes on the line. He recognizes your voice. Each of you may then assume the other person placed the call, and start to chat!

Remedy: When a call comes in from a sensitive party, and there is some confusion about who called whom, ask. If neither called the other, you have just had a heads up that someone is after one or both of you.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

In the case of a life-or-death situation where neither privacy nor legality matter, what is the fastest way to get help?

Call either the fire department or 911 and report a fire in progress. Captain Robert L. Snow, in his book Protecting Your Life, Home, and Property, says that if you live in a high-crime area and call 911 on a hot summer weekend and/or a busy day, there may be a delay in getting a policeman to your home. He says there have been cases where police dispatchers have listened as a caller was murdered before the police arrived.

Some persons, under these circumstances, have called the fire department and reported a fire. “This should be done only in desperate situations,” says Snow, “since there will likely be some legal consequences later because of calling in a false fire alarm.… But if you have absolutely no doubt there is an intruder who knows you’re in the home and is trying to get in anyway, there’s a very good chance you will be raped, beaten, and/or murdered. At a time like this you can’t really worry about legal niceties. There’s not much point in being completely law-abiding if you’re dead.”

Sometimes I hear clicking noises on my telephone. I brought in a detective to check for bugs and he said there weren’t any, but what if he was wrong? How can I be sure my telephone isn’t tapped?

If the government is after you, they will do the tap at a central office, and no detective will ever track that one down. In fact, a little test might be to have Detective A install the best tap he knows, and then see if Detective B can find it. (Let me know if you do that; I’ve got $20 that says Detective B will miss it.) Here is the best advice you’ll ever get about telephone security. Create a little label that says, THIS LINE IS TAPPED and stick it on every telephone.

Can international telephone calls be monitored without a warrant?

Of course, if they are beamed by microwave transmission. The National Security Agency (NSA) does this all the time. No warrant is needed to monitor microwave transmissions.

If I have Caller ID, will it always show the true number of an incoming call?

No. Even back in 1999, Mickey Hawkins, head of the FBI office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in an interview for an article in the Los Angeles Times, said “We use a device that gives a different number.”

Since then, any PI can spoof a number, and many average citizens have programs that do that, as well.

What is a “trap line”?

A trap line is a toll-free number used by private investigators to identify the location you are calling from. As soon as the target makes a call, the company providing this service contacts the PI to report the number and location of the incoming call. Remember, since the trap-line number starts with a toll-free area code (800, 888, 877, 866, or 855), you cannot block the transmission of information.

If you are the target, and the PI has only your ghost address, he may send you a convincing postcard or letter, asking you to either call him or send a fax. If you call or fax from home, he’s got you.

Or, perhaps he does not have an address for you but he does have a telephone number of a friend or relative. He will call them while they are away at work, hoping for an answering machine. If there is one, he will leave a message—have so-and-so call me before tomorrow midnight! “Urgent, there is a deadline, can’t wait!”