Several online data brokers are advertising that they can obtain call information for any mobile phone customer. By merely sending them about $100 and telling them a phone number, you can get a list of calls - complete with incoming and outgoing numbers plus call duration. T-Mobile, Verizon and Cingular have recently filed lawsuits to stop these companies. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission cited two companies, locatecell.com and Data Find Solutions for failing to disclose how they were able to obtain the call information.

The data brokers obtain the call information by posing as customers or phone company employees - a tactic known as pre-texting or social engineering. Data Find Solutions claims on their website that they can "get records from ALL carriers". Around $85 to $110 is charged for call information from each billing cycle and the companies say that results come in one to four hours.

Yesterday T-Mobile filed a lawsuit in Washington state court against several data brokers which included Data Find Solutions. T-Mobile is seeking an injunction that will block the brokers from selling the information. The lawsuit is just another in a string of suits filed last week by Cingular and one filed by Verizon last year.

It’s unknown just how many records these data broker companies have sold, but one blog site was able to purchase, for $89.95, the phone records of former presidential candidate and retired Army General Wesley Clark. As a result several Senators will seek legislation to criminalize selling of phone records.

Even the Federal Communications Commission is stepping in by issuing citations and levying fines. On January 20, the FCC sent citations - which are viewable on the fcc.gov website - to Data Find Solutions and locatecell.com. Both companies had failed to respond to an earlier subpoena in which the FCC demanded how the brokers were able to obtain the call information. The companies now face fines of up to $11,000 per day.