New Scam Beware!!!!!

-Subject: 809 Area Code
> > > >
Dallas Police Dept 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.
Have something important to tell you." Then she
repeated a phone number beginning with 809. We did not respond.
Then this week, we received the following email:

Subject: DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809, 284 AND 876
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US
BY AT&T.DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809

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 to all your friends and family so they don't get scammed!
MAJOR SCAM:
Don't respond to Emails, phone calls, or web pages
which tell you to callan "809" Phone Number. This is a very important issue of Scam Busters because it alerts you to a scam that is spreading *extremely* quickly can easily cost you $2400 or more, and is difficult to avoid unless you are aware of it.
We'd like to thank Verizon for bringing this scam to our
attention. This scam has also been identified by the National Fraud
Information Center and is costing victims a lots of money.
There are lots of different permutations of this scam.

HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

You will receive a message on your answering
machine or your pager, which asks you to call a number
beginning with area code 809.
The reason you're asked to call varies. It can be to receive
information about a family member who has been ill,
to tell you someone has been arrested, died, 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.
If you call from the US, you will apparently be charged $2425
per-minute.
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.

WHY IT WORKS:
The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin
Islands (The Bahamas). The 809 area code can be used as a
"pay-per-call" number,similar to 900 numbers in the US.
Since 809 is not in the US, it is not covered by
U.S. regulations of 900
numbers, which require that you be notified and
warned of charges and rates involved when
you call a pay-per-call" number
There is also no requirement that the company
provide a time period
during which you may terminate the call without
being charged.
Further, where as many U.S. homes that have 900
number blocking to
avoid these kinds of charges, do not work in
809 area code.

We recommend 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 just disregard the message.
Be wary of email or calls asking you to call an 809 area code number.
It's important to prevent becoming a victim of this scam, since trying
to fight 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.Please forward this entire message to your friends,family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam.

i just checked with snopes and its true. oh my glad i cant hear.

I had heard about this. it's awful what they do to entice people.

Wow. Thanks for the info.

I don't return calls, from numbers that I don't recognize, anyway. If one shows up on my caller ID, I run it through the reverse directory, on my computer.

This is quite old, it's been going on for at least a year or two. It's amazing how corrupt people can be especially when they tell you it's an emergency!

Woah!

And I thought it was bad when I received my "Offical Notice" that I won the Spanish lottery. All I had to do was send back some information, including my bank's name, the routing number and account number, and provide proof of identification through sending my social security number. As soon as they got that information, $350,000 would be placed in my bank account. Yeah, right.

or how about the emails from princess so and so who has 60 million dollars to invest and needs your help!!

The thing that scares me is that people fall for the scams Jenn and Jan just mentioned... I can see getting suckered into calling a phone number, but sending out personal information for winning something I didn't enter? And if Princess so and so has all that money, she can hire a financial planner. People who fall for those ought to be ashamed for letting their greed outpace their common sense.

Originally posted by WillieWZ
People who fall for those ought to be ashamed for letting their greed outpace their common sense.

Click to expand...

I would agree to a certain point.

Many times, scams are aimed at the elderly and people use the elderly's 'help your neighbour' mentality for their own purposes. Many times the elderly are then left with no funds to see them through their retirement, only because they tried to help someone out because of emotional compassion.

Either way it's sickening to know that people do this and probably will never get caught or given a stiff enough penalty.

Oh, I agree Kass. However, the two scams mentioned, the "spanish lottery" and the "Ethopian scam" (which is what the Princess so and so scam is based on), are not particularly targeted towards the elderly.

People who scam the elderly tend to have more success with "prize telemarketing" (where you're told that you've won a prize, and can be entered for better prizes if you buy their junk), "home repairs" where the contractor disappears after getting the cash, and of course scams where they're told they'll be repaid after the person "gets back on their feet". Frankly, it's crimes like these that make me wish we still had public whippings.

They work the "pigeon drop", here. Some dim bulb got hit, outside a KMart, a couple of months ago. That one just takes advantage of some people's greed. THEY deserve to get taken.

Wow! Thanks for the informtion. I would never have even thought twice about an 809 number.

Speaking of scams...hubby and I went on a crime-busting excapade yesterday morning. A guy who said he was from AT&T rang our buzzer yesterday and said that he was checking the cable boxes. He started asking us questions about if we have cable hooked up in our bedroom becuase he saw the cable line hanging down in the cable box. He then tried to sell us all of the movie channels for only $50 and said that he usually charges $100. Yeah, right! Well, we didn't buy it because hubby knew that this guy was trying to scam us. He then went from unit to unit and from building to building knocking on people's doors trying to get them to buy this "package" from him. We couldn't believe it! And one thing we were worried about, is that there are a lot of older people who live in our condo subdivision, so they probably wouldn't have a clue.

Plus, this guy only had an AT&T hat on and no AT&T clothes, or name badge. AND he drove a green minivan. Now you KNOW that legitimate companies have their own trucks.

Anyways, he started to leave, so I ran outside and pretended that I was throwing some recycling away and I got his license plate number and hubby called our association office and the police.

Then we jumped in hubby's car and drove around our subdivision looking for him. We almost gave up since we couldn't find him, then we decided to come back through the other entrance and we saw his van parked outside one of the buildings and there was another guy with him. So, we parked in the lot adjacent to him and called 911 again to let them know that we had found him. Right then, a police car showed up. Hubby talked with the officer for a minute and the guy was TOTALLY making up a different story and lying. We don't know what happened to him, because we left to go back home. Hopefully, at our next association meeting they will discuss this and let us know what happened.