Hello Mr. Lauer. My name is XXXXXXXXXX, and I am one of the IP Relay operators that was interviewed by Lisa Myers regarding the scams and abuse of the IP Relay telephone system for the Deaf.I feel compelled to write to you because there is so much more to the story that I would like to tell you. It is my goal to get the word out about this massive fleecing of American citizens and businesses. There is SO much more to the story than what was aired on Today and written at MSNBC.com. The latest written story was a bit more detailed than the short segment on Today, but there is much, much more to be said. The link to the latest story and the original video that ran on Today is:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15937817/Mr. Lauer, to be perfectly honest,I amvery surprisedthat this story died as quickly as it did. I have no idea why that happened, but it's disappointing to those of us that have been working on this for so many years. There has also been so much hard work done by the producer Tim Sandler, and investigative reporter Lisa Myers to try to promote it, but it seems to me that no one has picked it up. No one seems to be talking about it. As one of the operators thatstuck my neck out in spite of the trulyfrightening possible personalconsequences, I had hoped itwould beat least worth the risk. The risks includepotentially being sued by the relay companiesfor speaking publicly about what goes on in relay. There are other possible consequences, but like I said, I did the interview in spite of them.I did this interviewfor several reasons. Let me tell you why I did it, and disregarded the potential risks.First, and the most important to me, was to help all of the past, present and future victims of these Nigerian Scams. If my interview has brought some attention and people were made aware of the scams, then it is all worth the risks I took. I have been in touch with so many of these victims, and the devastation after being scammed is far greater than I could ever imagine. There have been bankruptcies, people have lost their businesses, divorces, financial nightmares, identity thefts, and even suicides. These scammers are ruthless. Their victims are, often times,without recourse.Second, the Relay system for the deaf has been compromised to the point that the legitimate users (the Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Speech Disabled) are getting hung up on when they try to call a business to order something from their company. They have great difficulty when calling businesses such as pharmacies, bookstores, auto parts stores, and car dealerships, and those are just a few of the many companies that hang up as soon as they hear that it's a relay call. This is all because the Nigerians have targetedthese types of businesses for scams over the last several years, and many of them simply reject ALL relay calls. That's not good news for the folks who need to use the Relay service to do every day business.Lastly, I did the interviewin an attemptto make the operator's lives a little bit better. These operators are subjected to sexual harassment, humiliation, degradation, and other general abuses on a daily, even hourly basis. Because of this, the average length of an operator's employment (at least at the call center whereI worked) is8 weeks. Training lasts 3 weeks. So basically, they can only do the job for about 5 weeks before they throw in the towel. As I said, the abuse these operators take is out of control. The few examples in the story were incredibly tame in comparison with the reality. The horrible things they are made to say for the pranksters who think it's hilarious to hear someone else say the words they are typing are atrocious.Mr. Lauer, I once was forced to call the father of a teenage girl to "inform" him that his young daughterhad been in a car accident and had not survived. The father was absolutely panicked and devastated. The truth though, was that his daughter was just fine, and very much alive. Someone who apparently disliked the girl, decided that this would be hilarious, and a good way to make her life miserable. Thankfully, she was alive and well,but her poor father was put through hell for however long it took him to get to the hospital, and find out that his daughter was not there, and that it had all been just a "prank". Can you imagine the panic he felt? The sheer, horrible feeling of desperation? That's just one example. There are so, so many more. Like I said, the few examples that were given in the video were really, truly tame.Mr Lauer, I sincerely hope that you will help me get this story into the spotlight. There are so many victims out there that need to know that SOMETHING is being DONE about it.Please contact me either at this email address or you can just call me at this phone number: XXX-XXX-XXXX if youneed to have a producer call me, or a reporter, that's fine too. Whoever is the appropriate person, I will be happy to speak to. I was heartened by your comments about the story, and I hope that you will do a follow up story. Anything I can do to make that happen, I will certainly do. The other operator, Cathy Audia, will also do anything she has to in order to get the word out.Thank you for doing the original story, andif I could ask for anything, it would be that Today does a follow up story on this. It would help so, so many people. In doing a follow up story, it would be my hope that Cable(MSNBC) would pick it up, and hopefully it would snowball from there. This is what I truly thought would happen with the firststory, but it just didn't.By the way, if you're interested in hearing more about how operators feel about what's happening in relay, you can visit our website. This is a website for operators to anonymously vent about the problems they have with their jobs. It's full of information on the scams, the pranks, and other things. I am the administrator for the site. We'd love it if you'd check us out over there. The web address is:http://relayscams.aimoo.com/Mr. Lauer, again, I thank you for your time. I'm sorry this is such a long letter, and I hope to hear from you, or someone who can help get the story out, soon. I am available for that person to contact at any time of the day or night. Thanks for your help! Sheila Satterwhite
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I may be your operator, but I am NOT your bitch!
