Klarinet Archive - Posting 000553.txt from 1996/10

From: "Scott D. Morrow" <SDM@-----.EDU>
Subj: scams - email, beepers, phone machines -Forwarded
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 08:48:18 -0400

Klarinetters!
A friend of mine forwarded this to me, and, even though it is not clarinet
related, I thought everyone should read it! It involves a telephone/pager
scam. BE CAREFUL!!!!
-Scott

>
>The scams work basically like this:
>You get home and notice that the message light is blinking on your answering
>machine. You listen to the message, which has several wrinkles, but the best
>
>one is the caller asks you to call a number beginning with area code 809 to
>receive information about a family member who has been ill. (They may also
>tell
>you someone has been arrested, died, you have won a wonderful prize, etc.)
>
>In any event, concerned or curious, you make the call. Sometimes the phone
>will be answered by a person who claims to speak broken English. (The idea
>is to keep you on the line to build up charges.) Or, sometimes you will just
>
>get a long recorded message. The bottom lines is, when your phone bill
>comes, you see this incredible charge, oftentimes more than $100.00 dollars!
>
>Crooks are using the 809 numbers as "pay-per-calls" and to get around the US
>Regulations and 900 number blocking. Every time you call the number, they
>get a
>greatly inflated rebate from the foreign phone company. Since the 809
>numbers
>are in the Caribbean, they aren't bound by US 900# regulations that require
>them
>to warn you of the charge and rate involved, and also to provide a time
>period
>during which you may terminate the call without being charged.
>
>The newest twist to this scam is to page people using the 809 numbers. With
>the
>new area code changes, people unknowingly are returning these calls. When
>the
>bill comes, there are HUGE charges for the calls.
>
>My suggestion is that no matter how you get the message, if you are asked to
>call a number with an 809 area code that you don't recognize, DON'T RETURN
>THE
>CALL! It's bad enough that the criminal is invading your privacy, don't let
>them invade your wallet as well!
>
>Scams of this type are extremely hard to prosecute and since you did actually
>
>make the call, neither your local phone company or your long distance carrier
>
>will want to get involved. They'll tell you that they are
>simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You end up trying to
>deal (over the phone) with a foreign company that feels they have done no
>wrong. It can turn into a real nightmare!
>
>Please fwd this msg to friends and let people be aware of it!
>
>Another e-mail scam has appeared, informing you as a would-be victim that
>you have "only 24 hours to settle your outstanding account" and suggesting
>that you can call an 809 number to avoid subsequent court action. The call
>goes to a Caribbean telephone company (apparently in Tortola in the British
>Virgin Islands) and costs you $3 to $5 (and presumably more if you are dumb
>enough to hang around for their strategy of putting you on hold with a
>sequence of creative recorded messages). The FROM: address "Global
>Communications"@-----. This is a cheaper variant on a recent
>809-900 pager scam, which costs you $25 if you return the call.
>[Source *San Francisco Chronicle*, 3 Oct 1996, A2.]
>
>

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410)-955-3631

SDM@-----.edu