Potential Scams

[Colorado2008]

There is a potential scam going around that everybody needs to be aware of. Please share this email with everyone that you know.

According to the information received, the scam involves calls being made to inform you that a family member is ill, or that 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 an 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls. (Other area codes that have been involved are 284 and 876)

If you call from the U.S. you will apparently be charged $2,425.00 per minute. They will attempt to keep you on the pone as long as possible or you will reach a long message. Either way the objective is to increase the charges. Unfortunately, when the phone bill arrives, you will often be charged more than $24,100.00 :shock: :shock:

Because the 809 number is in the Bahamas, the local phone company and you 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 will end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

Let's make an efferot to prevent from falling in this trap by sharing this information with friends, family, and colleagues.


Its amazing what some people will do!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Hippie Rancher]

snopes is your friend:

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

809 Area Code Scam

Claim: Unsuspecting phone customers have been gulled by scam artists into placing calls to area codes in the Caribbean that result in hefty charges.

Status: Real fraud, but its usage is rare and most victims are taken for only a small amount of money.

<snip>


As mentioned above, the amounts of money involved in these scams have been greatly exaggerated (probably by computer-introduced transcription errors) to the point that readers are now warned they may be charged more than $2,400 per minute if they fall for this scam! Actually, a victim might realistically be taken for $25 to $100, but not thousands of dollars.

<snip>

The Better Business Bureau strongly recommends that no matter how consumers are approached, if they are asked to respond to an "809" area code call, they should investigate further or simply disregard the message. (There is, of course, nothing wrong with talking to people who live in this area code if you happen to know them. All cautions regarding the 809 code apply only to solicitations to contact folks unknown to you.) If you have to call an a number in an area code that's unfamiliar to you, you can use an Area Decoder to check it out first.


Area decoder here: http://decoder.americom.com/cgi-bin/decoder.cgi

 

[backhoeboogie]

This is an old one. First time in this verse tho. Hadn't heard of this in a while.

Years ago everyone in the workplace was getting messages on their pagers to call those numbers. Corps were paying all the nickels. It didn't take long for management to act when the phone bills came. I don't think snopes was even around back then.