Old School Hacking: The T Network Payphone Jackpot

I found an old photocopied document while going though some files after a recent move. It explains how a black-hat Macguyver could support a comic book or weed habit while staying in touch with friends and family in the days before cellphones. With a little wiring knowledge, he could rig up payphones to make fee calls and collect the quarters and dimes of other unsuspecting callers. Needless to say, the following is for informational purposes only, though I suspect this sort of thing wouldn't work these days, even if you can find a working payphone!

StockSnap.Pixabay

Back in the days of widespread payphones, the unethical entrepreneur had a golden opportunity to bilk the phone company out of pocket change, by setting up "t" networks to get money back after a call is made. Payphones were set up to store the change and await a signal that would determine whether the money was to be deposited or returned, depending on a signal of either + or - 130 volts. This pulse was sent to the phone through a thin cable, usually running along the wall nearby the phone. Inside the cable, our hacker would find 4 wires typically red, green , yellow and black. The pulse would be sent down the red and green wires, and returned to ground through the yellow or black wires, sometimes both. Inconspicuously, our ruffian would carefully slice lengthwise down the cable with a blade, and expose the 4 wires. Moving back the red and green wires out of harms way, he would then cut the black and yellow ones, stripping off 3/4 inch of insulation at each cut end. Next, he would splice the yellow and black wires together on the phone side, and do the same for the pair on the wall side.

Carefully touching the two twisted pairs of yellow and black wires together, a long distance call would be dialed. Confirming the old adage "it takes money to make money", our hacker would need to deposit the required amount requested by the operator. During the forthcoming conversation, the wires are disconnected, because after around 2 and a half minutes, the pulse will signal to deposit the coins. However, with the ground wires now disconnected, the pulse will be unable to travel through the wires and the signal will be lost. Having completed an almost certainly edifying chat with his peers, the budding criminal will hang up the phone (best to keep conversations under 3 minutes!) wait about 10 seconds, pick the receiver back up, and reconnect the wires. Once the dial-tone is heard, all that remains is to hang the phone back up and reap the rewards, in the form of the price of his (now free) phone call. JACKPOT!

But alas, the plan is not completely foolproof! Since the phone company is likely to know how much money should be present at collection time, they may realize that something is up. Our phreak (phone hacker) does not want to be caught in a phone company stakeout, so he is sure to limit himself to a month (or two if he is extra daring) and up to a few hundred bucks worth of free calls, before he moves on to a different phone. After about half a year, the heat will be off and he can safely return.

But why stop here? If he is particularly entrepreneurial he can jackpot phones all over town! To accomplish this, he need only to cut the wires at each phone and leave them disconnected. Then when unsuspecting callers insert their money, it is never deposited. Now Little Billy (yeah that's right, I've given him a name) can go around to each jt-networked phone and collect the big bucks! All he needs to do is reconnect the wire. For ease and covertness, why not connect the wire to a hidden toggle switch? Who needs a paper route?

Anybody out there in Steemitland every try this? Or know any stories about someone who did? Let me know in the comments!