>Date: Wed, 09 Oct 96 11:35:59 PST
>From: "Robbie Jeffords" <Robbie_Jeffords@mgc.boehringer-mannheim.com>
>To: silvat@ccnet.com, roadrunr@ccnet.com
>Return-Receipt-To: Robbie_Jeffords@mgc.boehringer-mannheim.com
>Subject: Home Phone Scam -- BEWARE -Forwarded (fwd)
>
> See attached message.
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>Subject: Home Phone Scam -- BEWARE -Forwarded (fwd)
>From: Annette VanNorman
>Date: 10/9/96 8:25 AM
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________________________
>
> ----------
>
>This message was forwarded to me by James Murdock, the budget administrator
>at the University of Michigan. He wrote:
>
>My apologies if you've seen this, but if you have not its probably worth
>taking note of. Sounds like a scam that could easily ruin your day. You
>can't even trust your answering machine these days.
>
>The Scam works 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 ar 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 acode 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 ot 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!
>
>
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