Apparent Phone Scam

[northeastmom]

<p>I just got this email sent to me:</p>

<p>Hi everyone,
I don’t usually like to forward email like this, but I thought this was something you would all like to know. </p>

<p>ABOUT AREA CODE </p>

<p>We actually received a call last week from the 809 area code. The
woman said “Hey, this is Karen. Sorry I missed you–get back to us
quickly. I Have something important to tell you.” Then she repeated a
phone number beginning with 809 . “We didn’t respond”. </p>

<p>Then this week, we received the following e-mail: </p>

<p>Subject: DON’T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809 , 284 AND 876 </p>

<p>THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. DON’T EVER
DIAL AREA CODE 809 </p>

<p>This one is being distributed all over the US . This is pretty scary,
especially given the way they try to get you to call.
Be sure you read this and pass it on.
They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a
family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has-been
arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc.
In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since
there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return
these calls. </p>

<p>If you call from the US , you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute. </p>

<p>Or, you’ll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to
keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.
Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you’ll often be charged
more than $24, 100.00. </p>

<p>WHY IT WORKS: </p>

<p>The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin Islands (The Bahamas).
The charges afterwards can become a real nightmare. That’s because you
did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone
company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved
and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the
billing for the foreign company. You’ll end up dealing with a foreign
company that argues they have done nothing wrong. </p>

<p>Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and
colleagues to help them become aware of this scam</p>

[backhandgrip]

<p>Thanks a lot. Do appreciate.</p>

[janejersey]

<p>Hi</p>

<p>I found information about this on the AT&T website:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045[/url]”>AT&T | 809 Area Code and Other Long Distance Phone Scams;

[corranged]

<p>From that AT&T link:

Periodically, e-mails warning of a scam involving calls from the 809 area code circulate. Some of the information in the e-mail is true. For example, in the past, there has been some fraud associated with unscrupulous pay-per-call operators in that area code. However, this scam has been less and less of an issue in recent years as a result of work done by AT&T to shut down access to fraudulent pay-per-call operators. In fact, we rarely get actual complaints about this scam.</p>

<p>Furthermore, there is quite a bit of misinformation in the message, especially the highly exaggerated cost of a phone call to numbers in the 809 area code, a legitimate code for the Dominican Republic (not the Virgin Islands, as the e-mail states).

It goes on to state safety tips and what to do if you believe you have been scammed.</p>

[calmom]

<p>See:
<a href=“http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp[/url]”>http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The “scam” has been grossly exaggerated.</p>

[northeastmom]

<p>Oh, so I guess this is a scam, but one won’t lose thousands of dollars. I deleted the name of the original author of the email, b/c it has been forwarded through so many folks (thought that some info could have been changed). It was apparently written and signed by a field manager of a major telephone company.</p>

[NJ_mother]

<p>hey, who wants to lose $25 - $100 to a rotten scammer? We have better things to do with our $. Thanks for the tip.</p>

[northeastmom]

<p>NJ_mother, I agree, but it was thousands that really caught my attention, and your welcome!</p>