News About Phone Card Scams

A recent article about phone card scams in the Gotham Gazette profiles a Jamaican immigrant who can only call from her cell phone SIM card, because her fast-paced, high stress single mother working class lifestyle allows her very little time at home, and also very little extra money to pay for a phone. So she ends up getting ripped off by the exorbitant fees charged by the prepaid calling card company.

In other words, it's expensive to be poor.

Especially when it comes to making calls back home overseas. And she did shop around:

"I know about things like Skype that use computers to make calls, but I don't have a computer at home..."

So it's natural to suggest that immigrants who are lucky enough to have a home computer, or an accessible computer, consider using Skype to make cheap international calls. But after investigating the true price of Skype for immigrants, it may not be that much better than a shady phone card scam.

Often the best option is to find cheap phone cards, even for cell phone SIM plans. They are out there, despite the proliferation of charlatans trying to make a buck off the helpless and vulnerable. That's why we are here to help you sort through the bull, and find really good deals on phone cards.

Phone Card Scams Revealed, Congress to Act

Last month I wrote about the Senate Commerce Committee's inquiry into prepaid calling card scams by Elite Telecom and GEO Telecom.

Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that congress may soon legislate against deceptive phone card practices.

Gus West, President of the Hispanic Institute, testified before the committee and found that small-time phone card fraud is pandemic in Hispanic communities:

Mr. West's organization has tested hundreds of calling cards sold in Latino-area convenience stores and found that, on average, they deliver about half of the minutes promised.

The prevalence of such scams might turn some people off of phone cards all together, driving a switch to alternative telephony technologies like Skype. But as I noted in my post about Skype vs Phone Cards for immigrant communities, oftentimes phone cards offer much better rates than Skype.

This makes it all the more important that people find the phone cards that deliver the full amount of minutes advertised. Congress enacting legislation to enforce good rates will further solidify calling cards as the number one choice for a large number of long distance callers.

Is Skype Really the Best Deal for Immigrants?

Up to recently, phone cards - even the shadier phone cards - have been the best way for immigrants to make cheap international calls. But thanks to the growth of VoIP technology such as Skype.com and other Internet telephony programs, there are more options for cheap international calls.

The Orlando Sentinel recently did a feature on US immigrants turning to Skype, as VoIP technology becomes easier to access.

For calling the US or Canada, Skype is a great deal. But the article fails to mention that Skype charges an arm and a leg to call many countries that immigrants come from. A quick look at international Skype call rates shows us that for most of the countries, calls range from .20 to .30 cents per minute!

Conveniently, the article focuses on an Argentine immigrant couple calling home. Argentines are lucky. For them, sure, Skype can be cheap. Calls to Buenos Aires are a little over .02 cents per minute to a landline.

But even then, using Skype to call a cell phone in Argentina costs nearly .20 cents per minute!

And don't get me started on Honduras. For that country, Skype to a landline costs a whopping .42 cents per minute, and .45 cents if you're calling a cell phone.

In so many cases, Skype does not provide a cheap alternative to phone cards.

The article, of course, is hasty to categorize calling cards as outdated scams that only the poor are stuck with. It extols Skype as a panacea for cheap calls. It dutifully inserts a brief sniffle for the still-elitist nature of this otherwise Utopian technology:

Yet despite the increasing use of technology by Hispanics to stay in touch, sheer economics means that calling cards are bound to remain popular, especially among those from poorer countries, according to Hispanic advocates. However, calling-card users have often been ripped off, state Attorney General Bill McCollum and others say.

Yes, many phone cards are rip-offs. But not all. That, in fact, is the whole purpose of this blog: to warn you away from the scams, and to recommend the good deals on phone cards that are out there, but admittedly hard to find. We help you find them.

Contrary to what the Orlando Sentinel suggests, the solution for poorer immigrants is not to save up and buy an expensive computer, headset, webcam and Skype.com credit account. Don't waste your hard earned savings to invest in technology, if you're only going to be ripped off by Skype calls in the end.

The solution is to save your hard earned money, and stick with cheap phone cards - the trick is getting the right phone cards.

That's what this PhoneCardsCheap.ORG blog is all about: finding you the cheapest, best quality phone cards, and warning you about the scams out there. This way, you can avoid the phone card scams without having to pour hundreds of dollars into a computer, accessories and Skype charge account, only to then pay .45 a minute to call you sister's cell phone in Honduras, and continually feed the Skype beast.

Despite all the hype about Skype, phone cards are still by far the cheapest way to call, for the vast majority of the world. And phone cards aren't just for the poor. Whether you're rich or poor, a good deal is a good deal.

So don't get hoodwinked by fancy technology when old-fashioned savings are even easier to obtain. Happy calling!