Pay phone owner headed to prison

GREENBELT, Md. – A Washington, D.C.-area pay phone owner who rigged phones to automatically dial toll-free numbers, fraudulently ringing up $4 million in 50-cent fees, was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison.

Nicolaos Kantartzis pleaded guilty in September to using more than 100 pay phones to make phantom calls. Because the calls are free to legitimate users, the party getting the call pays costs that include a cut for the pay phone operator. Kantartzis, 63, was paid each time his phones rang the numbers, even though most calls lasted only a few seconds.

Authorities said his scheme spanned six years and some 8 million bogus calls.

Kantartzis’ attorney, David Irwin, said his client repaid the millions he earned from the scheme. Kantartzis told the judge he had been motivated by his “failing business” as pay phones became less profitable with the use of cellphones.