Phone Losers of America

The Phone Losers of America (PLA) is an internet prank call community founded in 1994 as a phone phreaking and hacking group. Today the PLA hosts the popular prank call podcast the "Snow Plow Show" which it has hosted since 2012.

Phone Losers of America
Formation1994
Purposee-zine/Phreaking/Prank call
HeadquartersAlbany, Oregon, U.S.
Region served
International
Platforms
Internet
Founder
Brad Carter (RBCP)
Known for
The Snow Plow Show
e-zine
PLA Radio
Voice bridge
Forums
Websitephonelosers.com

History

The Phone Losers of America were founded in 1994 out of an era where landlines were plentiful, the internet was virtually non-existent and a plethora of bored teenagers.[1] According to an interview with KBIA in 2016, founder Brad Carter described the 80s and 90s as being when prank calls flourished for this reason, leading to the founding of his group.[1]

The PLA text files continued until mid-1997. In 2002, RBCP began an internet radio station which he called PLA Radio which still exists today as The Snow Plow Show, along with a discord channel.

In the early 2000s, with the introduction of companies offering Caller ID Spoofing, groups such as the Phone Losers of America became notable in their utilisation of the service for prank calling, for example in the spoofing of law enforcement and corporate office numbers.[2]

Activities

The e-zine

The PLA e-zine was originally distributed electronically via a dial-up BBS, with an option to buy the magazine and have it shipped by mail. The e-zines ended in mid-1997.

The Snow Plow Show

The Snow Plow Show is a comedy podcast featuring prank calls by the host, RBCP. The show is a part of the Prank Call Nation network and releases episodes at least twice a week. Shows are often influenced by the listeners in the Prank Call Nation chat room.

PLA Radio

In early 2001, RBCP started releasing almost-monthly audio comedy shows called PLA Radio. The shows feature comedy skits, commercials, parodies, and pranks. The show is released as a podcast and has been featured several times on iTunes and is regularly listed in the Top 10 on Podcast Alley.

PLA Community Forums

The PLA community forums are administrated by RBCP, and were established on March 21, 2006. There are currently over 1,600 registered users, with over 50,000 posts on topics mostly related to the PLA.

PLA: The Books

In 2010, the Phone Losers of America book was released.[3]

In 2011, a second Phone Losers of America book was released, called Phone Losers of America: The Complete 'Zine Collection. This book was an archive of all of the original issues of the PLA e-zine, in a mostly unedited format.

The PLA giving their panel at the 2004 Hackers on Planet Earth convention

Other

The PLA maintains an archive of answer machine messages in text-based format, which Motherboard have described as being the "ringtones of their day".[4]

Cactus

A "Cactus" has become the PLA's mascot, as well as catch-phrase. The origin of the word dates back to an old prank call by RBCP, where he would say nothing but the word "cactus," over and over. In common usage, It can be stated with a question mark "Cactus?" or as an exclamation "Cactus!" Similar "Cactus" themed prank calls are often made by PLA members. Themed prank calls were often made under the pseudonym, Mildred Monday, a reference to a woman Brad often prank called.[5]

In early November 2016, Carter reported that the FBI performed an early-morning raid on his recording studio, resulting in a temporary seizure of all technical equipment. The raid was triggered by an attempt to access customer profiles at numerous retail stores across the country, primarily Safeway, of which some were utilized for prank phone calls.[6][7] The case was treated as a federal matter, and was presided over by Judge Marco A. Hernandez of the Federal District Court of Oregon.[7] On October 16, 2017, Judge Hernandez sentenced Carter to eight months of home detention, followed by five years of probation. Carter must pay $19,600 in restitution to Safeway as a consequence.[8] The sentencing came after Carter accepted a plea agreement with the prosecution. Despite the plea deal, Carter remains a convicted felon.

Press

The PLA has regularly received a fair amount of attention from the media, beginning with a front page article in the Sunday issue of the Belleville News Democrat on September 3, 1995.[9] An editorial was written several days later, followed by another front page article on the PLA a week later.[10]

The website and zine received regular write ups in computer magazines such as The Net, The Web and Internet Underground throughout the 1990s.[11] PLA received national attention in 2002, through a segment on Tech TV and then once again in 2005 when RBCP was interviewed live via satellite on CNBC's On The Money.[12][13] PLA was also interviewed in 2005 for an article about Wal-Mart in the Boston Herald.[11]

In August 2015, the Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, Missouri featured the PLA in an article about a series of "strange calls" received by local residents who had signed a petition against a crosswalk construction project.[14] The article quoted an FBI representative who allegedly told the Tribune that the calls to Columbia residents "would likely be prosecuted on the local level."[14] However, no prosecution of the calls ever occurred.

References
  1. O'Brien, Emerald (May 27, 2016). "Putting Columbia's Payphone Mystery to Rest". KBIA. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  2. Grant, Nicholas; Shaw, Joseph (2014). "Chapter 2 (Spit, Phishing and Other Social Outings)". Unified Communications Forensics: Anatomy of Common UC Attacks. Waltham, Massachusetts: Syngress (Elsevier). p. 19. ISBN 9780124046054. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  3. https://www.amazon.com/Phone-Losers-America-Brad-Carter/dp/1452876169/
  4. Smith, Ernie (March 15, 2018). "How Did Our Default Ringtones Become So Grating?". Motherboard. New York City: Vice Media. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  5. "View PLA Issues". Phone Losers of America. January 9, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  6. Weisberg, Brent; staff, KOIN 6 News (July 12, 2017). "Accused hacker to appear in federal court". KOIN 6. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  7. "United States v. Bradley Carter | Plea Agreement Letter | United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines | Plea". Oregon District Court. June 16, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  8. Bernstein, Maxine (October 16, 2017). "Prank calls to Safeway customers backfire on Youtube blogger". OregonLive.com.
  9. https://bnd.newsbank.com/search?text=%22phone%20losers%20of%20america%22&content_added=&date_from=&date_to=&pub%5B0%5D=114CEEB0320B0130. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. "View PLA Issues". Phone Losers of America. January 9, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  11. "Press Page". Phone Losers of America. January 28, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  12. Brad Carter (January 5, 2007), Tech TV phonelosers.org clip, retrieved December 27, 2016
  13. Brad Carter (March 13, 2008), On the Money - Corporate Terrorism at Wal-Mart, retrieved December 27, 2016
  14. "Strange calls about College Avenue project were YouTube prank". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
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