Phoney phone calls

[Helen Shane]

ABOUT AREA CODE

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".

Then this week, we received the following e-mail:

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.
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.

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 theBritish 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.

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

Sandi Van Handel
AT&T Field Service Manager
(920)687-904

[SageOwl]

This particular warning email is an old one. Go to www.snopes.com (https://www.snopes.com) and look up "809 area code" in their search engine.

It IS fraud but it happens only rarely and the charges are nowhere near what the warning says they are.

This is another example of scare emails fooling folks into thinking there are a lot of people out there trying to rip us all off. The admonishment to send it to all your friends & family made me suspicious; hoax emails often say that.

[LaurieSequana]

I checked this out on snopes also. Here is the link to read about it:
https://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

I recommend checking out all messages of this type before passing them on to so many people. It feels awful to have passed on "helpful" info only to find out you were misinformed. Make snopes your first stop when sharing dreadful stories!

Laurie Sequana

[[email protected]]

I get emails like this from friends\relatives all the time. I always check them out on snopes and the vast majority of the time, they are straightup hoaxes and urban legends. This one is (mostly) accurate, according to snopes. Here's a link to more info:
https://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

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[quote=Helen Shane;28792]ABOUT AREA CODE

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".

Then this week, we received the following e-mail:

Subject: DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809 , 284 AND 876

[Merrilyn]

Reminders for all of us.

Like small town gossip or spin generated by the White House (who cooked up a justification to go to war) it is best to verify the facts from a legitimate source rather than perpetuating something just because you've heard or read it somewhere.

This "area code 809" is a real scam that was first reported in 1999 but the claims are highly exagerated. You can check it out at scam busters: https://www.scambusters.org/809Scam.html or Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

Here's a suggestion. If you receive an email with an hysterical sounding message, or if it says to pass on the info to everyone you know, or if it says never do this or that then BE SUSPECT and investigate yourself. Just remember those damned "aluminum tubes" and insist on the source.

[Sara S]

I passed this on before I remembered that I made a couple of calls to Jamaica lately, and the charge was $6 per minute, which is a far cry from $2425!

[Barry]

I completely agree with Merrilyn! I let Helen's original post go through because I thought perhaps this actually happened to her. I tried to confirm this her but I didn't hear back.

For those of you who missed Merrilyn's "damned aluminum tubes" reference, see it here (https://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2003/07/we_489_01.html).


Reminders for all of us.

Like small town gossip or spin generated by the White House (who cooked up a justification to go to war) it is best to verify the facts from a legitimate source rather than perpetuating something just because you've heard or read it somewhere.

This "area code 809" is a real scam that was first reported in 1999 but the claims are highly exaggerated. You can check it out at scam busters: https://www.scambusters.org/809Scam.html or Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

Here's a suggestion. If you receive an email with an hysterical sounding message, or if it says to pass on the info to everyone you know, or if it says never do this or that then BE SUSPECT and investigate yourself. Just remember those damned "aluminum tubes" and insist on the source.

[Dixon]

Stories like this should always be checked out on a scam/hoax/urban legend site such as snopes.com before being passed along. I looked this one up on snopes.com and found out that, while this scam warning is fact-based, the danger as described in Helen's post is exaggerated. Here's the brief summary from snopes.com:

"This scam is real, but four important pieces of information to keep in mind are:

"Not every phone number in the 809 area code is part of this scam, and calling such a number will not necessarily result in exorbitantly large charges on your phone bill. Most 809 numbers are ordinary, legitimate phone numbers.

"This scam has been used with other area codes besides 809.

"The amounts of money involved have been greatly exaggerated as this warning has circulated on the Internet over the past several years.

"This scam is not very common; the average U.S. resident is unlikely to ever encounter it."

The complete discussion of this scam is at:

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

I recommend snopes.com for hours of fun and enlightening reading.

Blessings;

Dixon

[Sara S]

Thanks for this information, Dixon; I passed it along to the people I sent the hoax-about-a-hoax letter to.


Stories like this should always be checked out on a scam/hoax/urban legend site such as snopes.com before being passed along. I looked this one up on snopes.com and found out that, while this scam warning is fact-based, the danger as described in Helen's post is exaggerated. Here's the brief summary from snopes.com:...