Word: kinchla
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...culprits, said Kinchla, call from institutions, such as jails, that normally do not accept credit charges. The callers pretend that they have a legitimate need for a quick connection to an outside operator...
When the callers are connected outside through the University phone lines, the calls appear to come from Harvard, said Kinchla. The callers ask the operators to place the calls, often to international numbers, and the bill is charged to Harvard...
Since students cannot transfer phone calls using student telephone lines, the fraud seems to be limited to administrative offices. The total cost to the University "in not huge, but it can be large to the poor department on the bill," said Kinchla...
...England Telephone has refunded all the money lost to the University, and is attempting to solve the problem, Kinchla said. The only way to stop fraud completely would be to block all collect calls, she said, but legitimate collect callers would be cut off as well. Currently, the company is working on blocking specific institutional numbers from the University phone lines...
...meantime, many departments will continue to receive bogus calls. "I can't think of one school that hasn't been called--the Business School, the Kennedy School, the Medical School," said Kinchla. "It's happening not just at Harvard, but everywhere. I can't think of one of our [contacts] that hasn't been hit," she said...