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.
Example:
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 & pass it on to all your friends & family so they don't get scammed! Don't respond to Emails, phone calls, or web pages which tell you to call an "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 $24,100 or more, and is difficult to avoid unless you are aware of it. This scam has also been identified by the National Fraud Information Center and is costing victims a lot of money.
(snip)
Origins: 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.
(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.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/809.asp
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