Newest Phone Scam - 90#
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
November 3, 2007 8:10am CST
here's the newest phone scam - hasn't happened to me, but thought I'd pass it along. I passed it to my police officer daughter and she says it has been going around nad the dept has been notifed of it, so it has some credence to it. Never hurt to be on the look-out!
a person identifying themselves as an AT&T Service Technician (could also be Telus) who is calling you to condut a test on the phone lines. He says that to complete the test you should touch nine(9), zero (0) and pound sign (#) and then hang up. DON"T DO IT
Apparently by pushing 90# you give that individual that called you full access to your telephone line, which enables them to place long distance calls billed toyour home phone number. This scam seems to be originating from local jails and prisions.
This has apparently been run through ATT, GTE and Verizon. and they all said, it is a scam, don't do it.
3 people like this
5 responses
@mmiller26 (1930)
• Canada
3 Nov 07
I don't see how this could have happened to you, since it's an urban legend that's been featured on snopes.com, unless this happened to you at work. The only phone systems that are vulnerable to this are business lines, government lines and hospital lines and other organizations that still use PBXs (private branch exchanges) rather than Centrex lines to handle their calls. These are lines that have to dial 9 to reach an outside line. A residential line would not be vulnerable to this.
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall.asp
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
3 Nov 07
I mentioned it hadn't happened to me, but since a police officer said it was "going around", i thought I'd pass it on. I don't know about Snopes.com -thanks for sharing that.
@citygirl (1080)
• Canada
3 Nov 07
Perhaps you should spend a little more time reading the discussions before you respond. The person who posted this very clearly said it never happened to them. Think before you attack next time so it does make you appear incomprehensive. Thanks for share what you did though , I appreciate that. Have a great day.
@mmiller26 (1930)
• Canada
3 Nov 07
how was that an attack? Yes, I didn't read it as closely as I should have, and for that, I apologize. But to call what I said an attack is ridiculous. There was no name-calling, no verbal abuse, nothing to indicate it was an attack.
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
3 Nov 07
First off - love the avitar!!! Looks a lot like my tattoo!!! Orcas are truely a beautiful animal!!!
I've heard of this phone thing before, and my sister (who's x-brother-in-law has been in jail a lot) confirmed that this happens all the time. Since they can only place collect or pre-paid calls, they dial a "random" number and tell the person this. Then they can call whoever they want and talk for however long they want. I can't believe the phone company hasn't disabled this yet!!!
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
4 Nov 07
Oh that sounds soooo cool!!! With the passion she has, I'm sure she's going to do an excellent job!!!
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
4 Nov 07
About the Orca - my grand daughter, now 7 LOVES whales and dolpins - orcas her favorite, but she studies them all the time. At the age of 5 she decided she wanted to be a marine biologist so she could work with them. Ever heard a 5 year old say "marine biologist"! To cute. But she is dedicated. She reads all about them all the time. This avatar was a shrinky dinky I made for her. It is scrapbook punchie I bought for her (about 1 inch long) and I scanned it and made serveal on Shrinky DInk plastic, and made her a orca necklace!
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
4 Nov 07
Thank you for mentioning this in case this were ever to happen to me or any of my friends and family. I did hear about this in the news before so it is a legitimate scam and hopefully nobody will fall for it. Criminals are always trying to find new ways to take advantage of people. The phone companies should do something to prevent these things from happening.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
4 Nov 07
You just gotta be careful, that's all. If someone calls you and asks you for personal info, tell them to send you their request in writting and hang up! Most places that are on the up and up and need this stuff, will contact you by mail or in your next statement or something. If in doubt, tell them to contact you by mail! If they are the real thing, they will, if not, they'll probably cross your number off their list
@citygirl (1080)
• Canada
3 Nov 07
OH, My God, what will they think of next. Thanks for sharing that with us. Makes you wonder what this world has come to doesn't it, when one person or another is always trying to scam. All the best to you and you police officer daughter, you must be proud. I know I have one in the military and I am proud , of course I am proud of all three of mine lol. thanks again
@Countrymom (371)
• United States
4 Nov 07
Urban legend or not its very simple. Don't do it. When someone calls you and asks you to do something that seems even the slightest suspicious its very simple. Just hang up and don't do it. There are so many phone scams out there. We don't even answer our phone anymore if we don't know who it is. There are just too many weirdos out there and I don't want my kids subject to having to be exposed to it via the phone lines. In our house, if we don't recognize the number or organization calling, it goes to voice mail. We check it and if we need to, we call back. It saves a lot of headaches in the long run!
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
4 Nov 07
Took the words right out of my mouth! We do the same. The answermachine we have comes on and I can hear who is leaving a message. if I want to talk I pick up if it is a soliciter or scammer - I ignore it. Didn't have Caller ID untill recently, but it is easier to just listen instead of picking up and trying to read that little writting on that tiny window on the phone.
