<p>On our news tonight it was warning of a scam where someone calls you on your cell and tells you that a loved one has been killed or injured and that you need to call a certain number. Somehow calling that number gives someone else control of your phone (or phone number). </p>
<p>How sick is that</p>
<p>That is one of the lowest scams I have ever heard of. People never cease to amaze me.</p>
<p>Thats disgusting. Some people will stop at nothing. Sheesh.</p>
<p>How do they do that? I mean, how do they know your “loved one’s” name? And if it’s just a mention of “your mother”, or some such, wouldn’t you want some kind of detail? And if they won’t give you any, wouldn’t you be suspicious? (Maybe I’m unusually skeptical, or maybe it’s just that I’m a New Yorker.) Also, the idea of someone else being able to control your number because yo’ve dialed a specific # seems farfetched to me. After all, they’ve already got your number. I mean I’m no techie but…
Sounds like an urban myth to me.</p>
<p>I checked snopes but didn’t find anything on this.</p>
<p>The warning came from the Oklahoma police (even in Oklahoma the news programs do not report urban myths as news)
</p>
<p>So i guess they do not specify a loved ones name. But that would be my immediate thought if i got a call like that. I don’t give my cell number out to many people.</p>
<p>Wow, that is one elaborate scam. If these people would only use their powers for good! </p>
<p>I had heard that it was illegal for telemarketers to call cell phone numbers, but I received my first one not long ago. I imagine it’s not hard to get a list of cell phone #'s.</p>
<p>This seems very similar:</p>
<p>[snopes.com:</a> #-9-0 Phone Scam](<a href=“http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall.asp]snopes.com:”>Does #-9-0 Allow Scammers to Make Long-Distance Calls on Your Phone? | Snopes.com)</p>