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Article #5481

Re: free calls?

#5481
From: Michael C. Sheasby
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 1990 16:45
20 lines
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The other day I was in a mall and noticed a few yahoos gathered
around a pay phone... they looked around for cops and then
unscrewed the receiver on the phone (the ear end, not the mouth
end).

They took out the small speaker and touched the two wires
leading to it to the handset holder (the thing you put the
phone back on when you finish the call). Then they dialed
and quickly screwed the receiver cap back on. Apparently this
saved them a quarter.

I suppose it has something to do with a small current passing
through the metal receiver hook and fooling the phone into thinking
a quarter had been deposited.

Anyone ever see this?  can you do it any other way?

---Mike.
.
Technical Details
Message-ID: <1990Aug6.124516.8051@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!dgp.toronto.edu!sheasby
References: <32457@cup.portal.com>

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!dgp.toronto.edu!sheasby
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,alt.folklore.urban
From: sheasby@dgp.toronto.edu (Michael C. Sheasby)
Subject: Re: free calls?
Message-ID: <1990Aug6.124516.8051@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
References: <32457@cup.portal.com>
Distribution: na
Date: 6 Aug 90 16:45:16 GMT
Lines: 21