Fontis Water : News Releases

Healthier School Lunches? No Thank You, Says Congress

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Is pizza with tomato sauce a vegetable? Apparently yes, according to Congress, which on Monday blocked legislation that would have made school lunches healthier.

In their final version of a spending bill that includes planning for the $11 billion National School Lunch Program, House and Senate committee members blocked or delayed major proposals from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that aimed to toughen nutritional standards for students’ subsidized meals.

The USDA proposals — the first update to school-lunch nutritional guidelines in 15 years — suggested cutting back on salt; reducing starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, lima beans and peas; and adding more fresh fruits and vegetables. The proposals also called for setting a maximum calorie allowance for meals (currently, there is only a calorie minimum) and installing more specific targets for dairy and whole grain content in school lunches. The USDA also proposed not counting tomato paste on pizza as a vegetable.

Given that a third of American children are overweight or obese, and that they get roughly 40% of their daily calories during school lunch, nutrition experts have long advocated for an overhaul of the federally subsidized meals dished out to 31 million students each year.

Not surprisingly, frozen pizza makers and potato growers pushed back on the USDA proposals. Schools also complained that the changes would have cost too much money, and some politicians and school administrators said the government shouldn’t be in the business of telling school districts that they can’t serve specific foods.

Citing financial concerns and a lack of data on the potential benefits of the USDA proposals, Congress blocked the following requirements:

Limiting starchy vegetables, including corn, peas and potatoes to two servings a week, and requiring weekly minimums of leafy greens and vitamin-rich orange veggies. This measure was aimed at reducing kids’ consumption of French fries, which some schools serve daily. (A group of senators with farmer constituents, led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, successfully blocked this provision.)

Preventing two tablespoons of tomato paste — roughly the amount on a serving of pizza — from being classified as a serving of vegetable. The USDA wanted to increase the conversion, and allow no less than a half-cup of tomato paste — too much to put on a pizza, but adequate for more nutrient-dense meals like pasta, chili, ragout and soup — to equal a serving of vegetables. Federally subsidized lunches are required to have a minimum number of vegetables to be served.

Limiting sodium in school meals. Congress wants to hold off until more study is done on the long-term effects of sodium-reduction requirements.

Requiring half of all grains and breads to come from whole grains, rather than refined sources. Congress requested that the USDA define “whole grains” before regulating them.

“They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and French fries, are untouched,” Margo Wootan, a nutrition advocate at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told the AP.

The USDA’s recommendations, originally announced in January, would have significantly revamped the standard school menu, as evidenced by a pair of before-and-after weekly menus [PDF] — one based on the current guidelines, and the other based on the proposed updates. “This is a huge step forward and USDA deserves lots of support for doing this,” wrote Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and the author of Food Politics, on her blog at the time. It’s a shame the agency didn’t get it.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/16/healthier-school-lunches-no-thank-you-says-congress/#ixzz1duWaMb4N

Appearance at Teen Center Caps Leon Thomas Visit

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Leon Thomas III stopped by the Kennesaw Teen Center on Tuesday, April 19 to meet and greet the participants in the after school program conducted there. The visit followed up on his support of local teen initiatives demonstrated by his appearance at the Big Shanty Festival as well as an evening program at Kennesaw Mountain High School on April 16.

Leon was also honored by Mayor Mark Mathews at the April 18 City Council meeting, where a proclamation marked April 16 as Leon Thomas III Day and he was awarded the key to the city.

“Having Leon’s support was a real boost to our teen initiatives here in Kennesaw,” according to Mayor Mathews. “He is a wonderful role model who proves how hard work and effort can lead to success.”

Thanks to Domino’s and Papa John’s Pizza and Fontis Water and special thanks to Sherwin Williams for their donations to the Teen Center.

20 rising stars UNDER 40

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Jamie Carroll is proud to follow in the footsteps of his family’s business traditions. Carroll, a 35-year-old East Cobb resident, is Founder and President of Fontis Water, located on Canton Road in Marietta. His father, Jim, and uncle, Steve, founded Georgia Mountain Water in 1980 and were very involved in community service in Cobb and the North Georgia area.

Carroll says the duo sold their business to Crystal Springs in 2000 and Jamie worked there until 2003. It was then he began Fortis and has never looked back.

“It takes a certain amount of commitment and willingness to put the time and effort into your own business,” says Carroll. “But it definitely pays off.”

Carroll is active in the Kennesaw and Acworth Business Associations as well as the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He has over 2,000 business and residential customers throughout Georgia, and he has also added coffee service and single cup brew service.

“The past two years have been slower because of the economy, but things seem to be moving forward and growing,” says Carroll, who remembers some wise words his father gave him. “Dad told me that you have to be involved in your community – that’s your backyard,” says Carroll.

Waterworks

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

At Fontis Water, Jamie Carroll carries on the family tradition of bottling pure, natural mountain spring water. A family-owned and operated company, Fontis Water specializes in home and office delivery of bottled water.

“I grew up in the business,” said the Marietta native.

For 20 years, Carroll’s family owned Georgia Mountain Water, Georgia’s largest family-owned water company. They sold it in 2000. After GMW, Carroll operated Carolina Mountain Water and then opened Fontis in 2003.

The 35-year-old entrepreneur started working in the business at age 14. He uses his experience to set Fontis apart in the highly competitive beverage market where there are plenty of options. He said that his goal is to give families and businesses impeccable service they should expect from their bottled-water provider.

According to Carroll, customer service is what makes Fontis stand out above its competitors. “We always prided ourselves on our customer service,” the said 1993 Sprayberry High School graduate.

Fontis, serving Atlanta and the north Georgia area, continues to enjoy growth because Fontis builds relationships with its customers. “When someone calls, 99 percent of the time we pick up the call on the first ring and they’re talking to a live person,” he said. "We’re always in direct contact with customers and our drivers and our trucks. It’s just that attention to detail and service that sets us apart.

“Bigger isn’t always better,” he said.

Fontis water comes from a cold, deep rock spring in the Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains on family-owned land and is available in 5-gallon, 3-gallon, 1-gallon and single serving bottles. Fontis offers other services and products including break room service.

“My dream is to provide Georgians with their very own ultra-pure, fresh and invigorating bottled natural spring water, affordably priced and delivered with a friendly smile,” Carroll said.

Fontis is located at 3929 Canton Road in Marietta, between the Chastain Connector and Hawkins Store Road. To learn more about its other products and services, visit www.fontiswater.com or call (678) 494-1981.

50 reasons to oppose fluoridation

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Dr. Paul Connet, Ph.D. of St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY offers 50 reasons to oppose fluoridation as listed below and the statements are slightly edited.

1, Humans don’t need fluoride to have good teeth;

2, Fluoridation is unnecessary. Most Western European countries are not fluoridated and they have experienced the same decline in dental decay as the U.S. where a majority of cities are fluoridated;

3, Fluoridation’s role in the decline of tooth decay is in serious doubt;

4, Where fluoridation has been discontinued in communities in Canada and other countries, dental decay has not increased but actually decreased;

5, Dental crises were reported to have occurred in U.S. cities where fluoride has been added to drinking water for over 20 years; Tooth decay is more correlated with income than fluoride levels in water;

6, A decline in tooth decay had been already seen before fluoridation was introduced; Some studies suggested increased levels of fluoride in drinking water was associated with elevated risk of tooth decay;

7, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges findings by many leading dental researchers that fluoride does not have to be ingested to have a protective effect, which is topical, but not systemic. Since swallowing fluoride is unnecessary, no reason exists to force people (against their will) to drink fluoride in their water supply;

8, The FDA has never approved any fluoride product designed for ingestion as safe or effective;

9, Fluoridation does not help reduce dental decay rates. A major survey has found 30 percent of children in fluoridated areas had dental fluorosis on at least two teeth while the purpose of fluoridation is to limit the rate below 10 percent;

10, While fluoride is a known risk factor for dental fluorisis, other factors also affect the dental condition;

11, The level of fluoride put into drinking water at 1 ppm is not what nature intended. Fluoride presented in mother’s milk is 200 times lower than 1 ppm. No benefits but only risks come from this level of fluoride;

12, Fluoride is a cumulative poison, and only 50 percent of this mineral ingested daily can be excreted through the kidneys;

13, Fluoride actively interferes with hydrogen bonding and inhibits a great number of enzymes;

14, Together with aluminum, fluoride interferes with G-proteins leading to further interference with many hormonal and some neurochemical signals;

15, Fluoride is mutagenic and can damage DNA and interfere with enzymes that help DNA repairs;

16, Fluoride can form complexes with other metals or minerals causing a variety of problems;

17, Animal studies show exposure to 1 ppm of fluoride in the form of sodium fluoride or aluminum fluoride in drinking water for a year resulted in morphological changes in kidneys and brains of rats, increased uptake of toxic metal aluminum in the brain and the formation of beta-amyloid deposits, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease;

18, Aluminum fluoride used to fluoridate water is toxic to the brain; the U.S. government recommended this chemical should be tested for its toxicity;

19, Fluoride accumulates in the brain and alters mental behavior in a manner like a neurotoxin;

20, Five studies in China revealed fluoride exposure was linked lower IQ in children;

21, Fluoride also accumulates in the pineal gland to a very high level and reduces melatonin production and leads to an early onset of puberty;

22, Fluoride was prescribed in Europe to patients with hyperthyroidism. Water fluoridation essentially forces people to use a thyroid-depressing drug; The department of health and human services reported fluoride exposure in fluoridated communities is estimated at the range of 1.6 to 6.6 mg per day, which covers the dose range from 2.3 to 4.5 mg per day that decreases the thyroid functions;

23, Some early symptoms of skeletal fluorosis, which is caused by fluoride, mimics the symptoms of arthritis, a fact that leads to misdiagnosis of skeletal fluorosis. Because of this, incidence of skeletal fluorosis can be underestimated;

24, High doses of fluoride up to 26 mg per day were tried to treat people with osteoporosis in hopes that their bones can be hardened and fracture rates can be reduced. Exposure to such high levels, in fact, increased the rate of fractures, particularly hip fractures. The level of exposure can be easily reached in people who live in fluoridated areas during their lifetime;

25, Many studies have linked exposure of fluoride with increased risk of fractures, particularly hip fractures, which are serious health problems;

26, The one and only government-sanctioned animal study intended to examine the effect of fluoride on cancer risk showed a dose-dependent increase in risk of bone cancer in male rats. Other cancers in the liver and the mouth were also increased, but the government downplayed the findings;

27, A review of data in a National cancer database found higher rates of bone cancer in young men in fluoridated areas compared to unfluoridated areas. A smaller study revealed the increase in bone cancer in young men living in fluoridated areas was 6 times higher, compared with those living in unfluoridated areas;

28, Animal studies showed high levels of fluoride wreaks havoc on the male reproductive system, specifically damaging sperm and boosting the odds of infertility;

29, Although toxic at high levels, the fluoridation programs are poorly monitored. As a result, the exposure to high toxic mineral varies widely and some people might have been victimized by the practice;

30, No one can really know exactly how much his daily intake of fluoride is. Some people could expose themselves to much higher levels than others even though the average may or may not be too much out of the normal range;

31, Fluoridation is unethical because individuals are forced to drink fluoridated water. If fluoride is indeed beneficial, people can always take it as a dietary supplement;

32, Referenda cause a conflict between individual rights and majority rule. Fluoride, a toxin, should not be given to an individual just because his neighbors agree that he should receive it in drinking water;

33, Some people are more sensitive than others. One 13-year study showed about 1 percent of patients given 1 mg of fluoride per day developed negative reactions;

34, The Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry and other researchers reported that certain individuals including elderly, diabetics, and those with poor kidney function may be more vulnerable to fluoride’s toxic effects;

35, Vulnerable are also those who suffer malnutrition such as deficiencies of calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, and iodine and protein in their diet. People with malnutrition are likely the poor, who are the targets of new fluoridation programs;

36, Dental decay is more commonly seen in poor communities. That is not because they have no access to fluoride, but because they are poor and don’t have access to adequate dental care and don’t have dental insurance;

37, Fluoridation has failed to prevent the most serious oral health problem facing young and poor children, that is, baby bottle tooth decay or early childhood caries;

38, Early studies intended to help launch fluoridation programs were criticized for their poor methodology and choice of control communities. Dr. Hubert Arnold from the University of California at Davis was cited as saying the early fluoridation trials “are especially rich in fallacies, improper design, invalid use of statistical methods, omissions of contrary data, and just plain muddleheadedness and hebetude.”

39, When the U.S. Public Health Service first endorsed fluoridation in 1950, no single trial had been yet completed;

40, After the launching of fluoridation, evidence from studies indicated that fluoride could not help prevent pit and fissure tooth decay, which represents up to 85 percent of the tooth decay in children. This is a fact that has been known to the dental community;

41, People today are exposed to much higher levels of fluoride than the optimal fluoridation level 1 ppm, which is the level viewed as optimal in 1945.

42, Fluoride chemicals used to fluoridate water in the U.S. are not food or pharmaceutical grade. They come from the wet scrubbing systems commonly seen in the superphosphate fertilizer industry. They are contaminated with impurities and only 90 percent of it is sodium fluorosilicate and fluorosilic acid.

43, The chemicals used for fluoridation have not been tested for its safety. The tests conducted in animal studies used pharmaceutical grade sodium fluoride, but not industrial grade fluoride chemicals;

44, Use of fluorisilic acid increased uptake of lead into children’s blood;

45, Sodium fluoride is an extremely poisoning substance, a dose of 200 mg of fluoride ion can be enough to kill a young child, and 3 to 5 grams of it may kill an adult. Deaths were reported to result from excess exposure to fluoride;

46, At least 14 Nobel Prize winners had expressed their reservations about fluoridation;

47, Nobel laureate in Medicine and Physiology Dr. Arvid Carlsson was quoted as saying ""I am quite convinced that water fluoridation, in a not-too-distant future, will be consigned to medical history…Water fluoridation goes against leading principles of pharmacotherapy, which is progressing from a stereotyped medication – of the type 1 tablet 3 times a day – to a much more individualized therapy as regards both dosage and selection of drugs. The addition of drugs to the drinking water means exactly the opposite of an individualized therapy" (Carlsson 1978).

49, Pro-fluoridation officials refuse to debate over fluoridation. Dr. Michael Easley, a well known lobbyist for fluoridation in the US was quoted as saying “Debates give the illusion that a scientific controversy exists when no credible people support the fluorophobics’ view”. Dr. Edward Groth, a Senior Scientist at Consumers Union, was quoted as observing “the political profluoridation stance has evolved into a dogmatic, authoritarian, essentially antiscientific posture, one that discourages open debate of scientific issues”.

49, Scientist, doctors, and dentists who have spoken against fluoridation have been subjected to censorship and intimidation;

50, The Union representing scientist at US EPA headquarters in Washington DC opposes water fluoridation. “In summary, we hold that fluoridation is an unreasonable risk. That is, the toxicity of fluoride is so great and the purported benefits associated with it are so small – if there are any at all – that requiring every man, woman and child in America to ingest it borders on criminal behavior on the part of governments.”

For more details about adverse effects of fluoride, readers are encouraged to visit the fluoridealert.org’s website.
EPA wants less fluoride in water, but do we need any of the chemical?

Report: Harmful chemical found in tap water of 31 U.S. cities

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Millions of Americans in at least 31 U.S. cities could be drinking tap water contaminated with the harmful chemical hexavalent chromium, according to a report released Monday by the non-profit Environmental Working Group.

While the dangerous carcinogen, otherwise known as chromium-6, may sound foreign to most people, perhaps the name Erin Brockovich will ring a bell.

After chromium-6 was discovered in the water supply of Hinkley, California, Brockovich helped bring about a lawsuit that ultimately ended in 1996 with the utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric, paying more than $330 million in damages. Norman, Oklahoma; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Riverside, California, top the non-profit organization’s list of cities with water supplies contaminated by chromium-6.The Environmental Protection Agency has classified the toxin as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans” as part of a risk assessment the agency is currently conducting on total chromium. The agency says water utilities are required to test for total chromium levels in the water but not explicitly for chromium-6. Chromium-6 is a natural byproduct of total chromium.

“In order to protect people’s health, EPA has had drinking water standards for total chromium, which includes chromium-6,” the agency said in a statement to CNN. “When this scientific assessment is finalized in 2011, EPA will carefully review the conclusions and consider all relevant information, including the Environmental Working Group’s study, to determine if a new standard needs to be set.”

“I was expecting to find hexavalent chromium in some of the cities we checked, but I didn’t expect it to be so widespread,” said Rebecca Sutton, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group and the lead author of the study.

Sutton said there is a well-documented corollary between exposure to chromium-6 and a greater risk of stomach cancer in humans. Additionally, there is ample animal evidence showing a broad risk of gastrointestinal tumors in rats and mice exposed to the toxin, she said.

Worse, skipping tap water in favor of bottled water does not guarantee you’ll be protected.

“Bottled water is not necessarily any safer than tap water,” said Sutton. “We just don’t have any guarantee that hexavalent chromium isn’t in that water.”

So how can you protect yourself? Sutton says your best bet is buying an effective water filter.

“Getting the water filter is a great way to protect yourself and your family,” says Sutton. “It’s a step you can take yourself; you don’t have to wait for government action.”

Samples from the test provided a “one-time snapshot” of water systems that serve 26 million people, the Environmental Working Group said. But the organization said the results show that more federal regulation of the cancer-causing chemical is needed.

The National Toxicology Program has said that chromium-6 in drinking water shows “clear evidence of carcinogenic activity.”

California’s state environmental agency has proposed capping levels of the chemical in drinking water at 0.06 parts per billion. The Environmental Working Group said 25 of the cities it tested showed exceeded that level.

To conduct its test, the organization said it recruited volunteers in 35 cities to collect tap water samples “from unfiltered taps in homes or in public buildings such as hospitals, libraries and malls,” the report said.

Here are the cities

1. Norman, Oklahoma
2. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Riverside, California
4. Madison, Wisconsin
5. San Jose, California
6. Tallahassee, Florida
7. Omaha, Nebraska
8. Albuquerque, New Mexico
9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
10. Bend, Oregon
11. Salt Lake City, Utah
12. Ann Arbor, Michigan
13. Atlanta, Georgia
14. Los Angeles, California
15. Bethesda, Maryland
16. Phoenix, Arizona
17. Washington, D.C.
18. Chicago, Illinois
19. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
20. Villanova, Pennsylvania
21. Sacramento, California
22. Louisville, Kentucky
23. Syracuse, New York
24. New Haven, Connecticut
25. Buffalo, New York
26. Las Vegas, Nevada
27. New York, New York
28. Scottsdale, Arizona
29. Miami, Florida
30. Boston, Massachusetts
31. Cincinnati, Ohio

Nation’s water bottle recycling picks up

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

The International Bottled Water Association says two new studies suggest nearly one-third of bottled water containers are being recycled.

The 2009 rate — 31 percent — is up only slightly from the previous year’s 30.9 percent. But the upward trend is continuing, the association noted, pointing to a 16.62 percent increase from 2004, the year the analysis began. About 25 percent of the plastic in PET bottles comes from this recycled material.

What’s the rate in Utah?

There’s no way to know, said Ashlee Yoder.

“In Utah recycling is voluntary,” said Yoder, who coordinates recycling programs for Salt Lake County.

“We are increasing our rates,” she added, “but we have not been able to achieve anything close to those [national] rates.”

One issue is that neither Utah nor the Salt Lake Valley has a standardized method for determining recycling rates. And without standardized reporting, there is no way to track how Utahns are doing, she said.

Crystal Springs Water Leaves Workers High and Dry

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Following more than 18 months of bargaining, workers at Crystal Springs began ambulatory pickets today in response to the bottled water company’s refusal to bargain in good faith. The workers are members of Teamsters Local Union 480 in Nashville, Tenn.

The union had exhausted all other options in its effort to reach a fair and equitable agreement with Crystal Springs. To date, company representatives have refused to back off their unreasonable demands.

“Crystal Springs is a profitable company – no one can deny that,” said Lendon Grisham, President of Teamsters Local 480. “Yet the company continues to deny giving raises to workers who have not had a change in their wages for more than a decade. Crystal Springs would rather spend its money on a high-priced, union-busting attorney fromWashington, D.C. than use that same money to give these workers the raises they deserve.”

The union has filed multiple unfair labor practice charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board but still hopes that Crystal Springs will return to the table with a suitable contract offer.

“They want us to work more hours for the same amount of pay,” said Rick Wilson, a 10-year route sales representative at Crystal Springs. “This is just more of the same behavior from the company. Over the years they’ve done nothing but take things away from us. All we’re asking is fair wages for a hard day’s work.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE Teamsters Local 480

Bottling Lake Michigan Water

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Rumor has it that Chicago may begin bottling tap water from Lake Michigan to raise funds for the city.

Dispelling the rumors, Mayor Daley claims he currently has “no plans” to privatize Chicago’s water system, but bottling and selling the city’s “exceptional” tap water is worth exploring, newly-appointed Water Management Commissioner Tom Powers said today.

“The quality of the water that the department puts out is exceptional. In some cases, it’s better than bottled water,” Powers said after his City Council confirmation hearing.

Asked if Chicago might someday bottle and sell Lake Michigan water, Powers said, “As far as how you go about doing that — I don’t know how practical that is. It’s something you’d have to look at.”

Phony Phone Calls Distract Consumers from Genuine Theft

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

NEWARK, NJ—Have you recently received a large number of strange and unexplained calls on your mobile or landline telephones? The FBI is warning consumers about a new scheme that uses telecommunications denial-of-service attacks as a diversion to what is really happening: the looting of bank and online trading accounts.

The Scheme

The scheme is known as telephony denial-of–service (TDOS) and according to several telecommunications companies working with the FBI, there has been a recent surge of these attacks in the past few weeks. The perpetrators are suspected of using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts to overwhelm the land and cell phone lines of their victims with thousands of calls. When the calls are answered, the victim may hear anything from dead air (nothing on the other end), an innocuous recorded message, an advertisement, or even a telephone sex menu. The calls are typically short in duration but so numerous that victims have had to have their numbers changed to make the calls stop.

The FBI has determined that these calls serve as a diversionary technique. During these TDOS attacks, online trading and other money management accounts are being accessed by the perpetrators who are transferring funds out of those accounts. The perpetrators will obtain account information of their victims in some way and then contact the financial institutions to change their victims’ profile information such as email addresses, telephone numbers and bank account numbers. The purpose of the malicious phone calls is to occupy the victim phone numbers on record with the financial institutions managing the accounts so that when the institutions contact the victim to verify the changes and transactions, the institution is unable to reach the victim. Consequently, the victim has no idea what has really transpired until it’s too late.

What is Being Done About It?

The FBI first learned of this scheme through one of its partnerships with private industry. In November of 2009, a semi-retired dentist in St. Augustine lost as much as $400,000 from his retirement account through telephony DOS. (See the article at http://staugustine.com/node/5477.) Law enforcement discovered VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) accounts created by a single user that paired the accounts with automatic dialing tools to dial a large volume of computer-generated calls per minute, all directed toward the business, home, and mobile telephone numbers of the victim dentist. Those VOIP accounts were terminated, but the perpetrators of the scheme were never identified. AT&T, which has a strong working relationship with the FBI, enlisted the help of FBI Newark’s Cybercrime squad.

“Following that first incident in November 2009, we’ve recently seen an increase in this activity targeting our customers across the country,” said Adam Panagia, Associate Director of Global Fraud Management for AT&T.

Last month, the Communication Fraud Control Association (CFCA) invited the FBI to become its official law enforcement liaison. Headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey, the idea of the CFCA was conceived in February of 1985 when a group of communications security professionals from AT&T, ITT, MCI, Network One, SBS, and Sprint met to establish a cooperative effort to combat the growing problem of communications fraud. CFCA has since expanded its membership to include all areas of communication providers (such as AT&T, PAETEC, and Verizon to name a few) and end users and even includes members of law enforcement. The FBI and CFCA are now working together to analyze the patterns and trends of TDOS to prevent attacks, educate the public, and ultimately identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. “The cooperation between PAETEC and the FBI has been tremendous,” said Robert Moore, CIO at PAETEC, a business communications firm headquartered in Fairpoint, New York. “It’s only with a true partnership between service providers and law enforcement that we can make a real impact in protecting businesses and private citizens from the growing criminal threats we’ve been seeing over the past years. It’s also the reason that for more than ten years, we’ve employed a highly-trained team of voice security professionals to identify and stop these attacks in progress while working with law enforcement to protect customers.”

Victims don’t immediately think to contact law enforcement because to them, the numerous phone calls appear to be a technical issue with the telephone carrier and not a criminal threat. “With the advent of Voice over IP and the newest technologies in phone service, criminal attacks on businesses using those platforms have become increasingly sophisticated,” said Moore. One trend that the FBI sees with the malicious phone calls is that when they are answered, many of the victims report hearing a recorded advertisement for an American car company with an announcer having an Asian accent. The other prominent trend is hearing a telephone sex “menu” when answering one of these calls.

How to Protect Yourself

Protection from TDOS attacks requires consumers to be proactive. “Although unsolicited telephone calls are not always representative of fraud, the FBI believes it is important to advise the public of this scheme,” said Michael B. Ward, Special Agent In Charge of the FBI’s Newark division. “Consumers should continue to emphasize strong security procedures for all financial accounts, including placing fraud alerts on all of their financial accounts and with the major credit bureaus if they believe they may have been targeted by a TDOS attack or other form of fraud.” Passwords for online and telephonic banking should be changed regularly and frequently. People should obtain their credit report annually and review it for fraudulent activity.

Adam Panagia of AT&T offered this advice: “We urge anyone who suspects they may be the target of a TDOS attack to immediately contact their telephone provider after notifying their financial institutions.”

This notification should include online trading brokers with whom the victim may have an account. In one recent case, the victim acted early and alerted her financial institutions and was able to successfully thwart an attempt to have money stolen from her accounts. The incident should also be promptly reported to the FBI through www.ic3.gov, the FBI’s online cybercrime complaint center. (The FBI does not necessarily respond to individual complaints registered on ic3.gov. Rather, the information is used to look for trends and patterns. Once those patterns are identified, the victims may be contacted for further information.)

“Listen to related podcast”: http://www.fbi.gov/inside/archive/inside051410.htm