Cell Phone Sting Lures Drug Dealers To Police Cameras

The drug dealers thought the cellular phone calls would be free and frequent. All the digits they could dial in a month.

Someone else would be stuck with thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges used to peddle “crack” cocaine and methamphetamine.

When people recently began selling “cloned” cell phones in north Spokane in exchange for drugs and cash, it proved too tempting for some suspected dealers to resist.

Now they’re in jail.

There have been 15 arrests in the police sting and more are expected, said Dick Cottam, police department spokesman.

During the six-week undercover operation in April and May, customers either paid up to $200 or swapped drugs for the phones. They were supposed to be illegal - clones that have a legitimate cell customer’s phone number and serial number burned into a memory chip inside.

When anyone uses the phone, the real cell customer or company gets burned. If discovered, cell companies can void the fraudulent fees. If unnoticed, a customer can end up paying inflated bills.

Drug dealers use the phones because they can stay anonymous. If one cloned account is shut down, they find another.

To aid the Spokane crackdown, AT&T donated $20,000 in connect time to police.

“What we want to say to the criminal world is, you never know what you’re going to be buying,” said Kevin Pazaski, an investigator with AT&T in Seattle. “It could be from a police officer.”

Undercover officers set up shop in a storefront somewhere on Francis Avenue. They didn’t advertise. Customers spread the word to one another. Police videotaped it all.

During one exchange, a slender, young man enters the store wearing a white tank top. He tries out a phone.

“If this thing rings, don’t answer it,” the undercover officer advises.

“Because what happens is, the phone company is gonna shut the thing off.”

AT&T shuts off service if a cell phone is found to be a clone, Pazaski said.

In the surveillance video, the officer tells the man the phone is guaranteed to work for 30 days. If it shuts down sooner than that, he can swap for a newly cloned phone.

“Only 30 days?” comes the customer’s reply.

They negotiate a deal. The officer asks for $200. The customer digs in his pants, pulls out a plastic bag - apparently filled with drugs.

“That’s cool,” the officer says.

Police would not reveal the amount of drugs seized in the sting. Cottam said some cases are big enough to warrant referrals to federal prosecutors.

Phone cloning isn’t as easy as it used to be.

In the last year and a half, models with secure phone codes have been introduced. Traditionally, thieves could electronically catch the codes. They’re emitted by cell phones about four times an hour.

And if records show a cell phone is suddenly making 75 calls a day instead of three, suspicious carriers can shut it down.

“And all those calls can be traced,” Pazaski said. “We know who you are and where to find you.”

, DataTimes