Business Notes RIP-OFFS

"Pssst! Wanna buy a cheap long-distance call?" Words to that effect are now being whispered in the vicinity of telephone booths across the country as part of a scam that costs U.S. phone companies anywhere from $6.5 million to $11 million a year. Hustlers who might once have peddled drugs or sex offer prospective customers cut-rate telephone calls that are placed by using access codes stolen from long-distance phone companies. The most likely buyers: people waiting in urban bus or train terminals, especially immigrants who might want to call a loved one in a foreign land without having to fork over a fistful of quarters. At New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal, the going illegal rate is $2 to call anywhere in the U.S. and $4 for an overseas hookup.

Authorities have rounded up hundreds of phone hustlers around the country in recent months. In New York alone, last year 190 people were arrested for participating in the hot line scam. Three local telephone companies and 20 long-distance carriers, including AT&T, US Sprint and MCI, joined forces to form a group called the Communications Fraud Control Association, which now includes a number of other phone companies. The association's mission: to help crack down on the growing practice by urging tougher laws and stricter law enforcement.