E-mail phone scam from 809 496 2700 costs $25 a minute
Robert Casey
Netcom, my ISP, thoughfully provided this warning message about that
Email phone scam from the BVI:
10-07-96 NETCOM was recently made aware of a potential
Internet-based phone "scam" that tries to scare people into
calling a long distance phone number in the 809 area code.
The 809 area code is in the British Virgin Islands
(The Bahamas), and any caller dialing the number from the
United States apparently will be charged $25 per-minute.
If you do receive an e-mail note asking you to call the
809 area code, you may wish to disregard it. Please be
leery of any unsolicited mail you may receive.
The basic content of the e-mail note is as follows:
===============================================================
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 00:57:11 -0700
From: "Global Communications"@demon.net
Subject: Unpaid account
I am writing to give you a final 24hrs to settle your
outstanding account. If I have not received the settlement
in full, I will commence legal proceedings without further
delay. If you would like to discuss this matter to avoid
court action, call Mike Murray at Global Communications on
+1 809 496 2700.
===============================================================
I think that recording you hear at this number keeps you on for
about 3 to 4 minutes, making it a $100 phone call! Ouch!
-------------------------------------------
The phone company's got your number! :-)
Linc Madison
In article <wa2iseDy...@netcom.com>, wa2...@netcom.com (Robert Casey)
wrote:
> Netcom, my ISP, thoughfully provided this warning message about that
> Email phone scam from the BVI:
>
> 10-07-96 NETCOM was recently made aware of a potential
> Internet-based phone "scam" that tries to scare people into
> calling a long distance phone number in the 809 area code.
> The 809 area code is in the British Virgin Islands
> (The Bahamas), and any caller dialing the number from the
> United States apparently will be charged $25 per-minute.
This last statement is, quite simply, BULLSHIT. The charges for this
number are not anywhere close to $25/minute. They are the normal
international long distance charges for a call to the British Virgin
Islands, which depend on your long distance company, but are generally
in the neighborhood of $1/minute for calls from the U.S., dialed 1+
from home.
Yes, it is a scam, but no, it's not a $25/minute scam. If your long
distance carrier is ridiculously overpriced, maybe $2.50/minute. If you
dial 0+ from a COCOT, it might get up to $25 for a several-minute call.
Oh, and by the way, the British Virgin Islands are not in the Bahamas,
nor are the Bahamas in the British Virgin Islands. The Bahamas is an
independent nation, off the east coast of southern Florida. The B.V.I.
is a territory of the United Kingdom, located a good bit farther south.
809-496 is in the British Virgin Islands.
--
** Unsolicited commercial Email delivered to this address will be
subject to a $1500 charge. Emailing such items, whether manually or
automatically, constitutes acceptance of these terms & conditions.**
Linc Madison * San Francisco, Calif. * Tel...@Eureka.vip.best.com
Michael Bender
I received this from our corporate security folks the other day:
Please be advised that there are telephone type scams being
perpetrated on numerous persons at Sun as well as other companies in
the area.
The essence of the scam is that persons are paged and when the
person returns the call they are charged an amount from $5.00 to
$60.00 depending on the scam. The scam also involves email wherein
the recipient of the email is told that they have an outstanding
bill and they must call immediately or face court action.
If you see the following numbers on your pager or at your email
address, it is safe to assume that you may be the next victim of the
scam.
The 809 number I understand, but what is the 408 number?
mike
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would not, could not SAVE ON PHONE,
I would not, could not BUY YOUR LOAN,
I would not, could not MAKE MONEY FAST,
I would not, could not SEND NO CA$H,
I would not, could not SEE YOUR SITE,
I would not, could not EAT VEG-I-MITE,
I do *not* *like* GREEN CARDS AND SPAM! Mad-I-Am! (inspired: PvdL)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Helton
Linc Madison (Tel...@Eureka.vip.best.com) wrote:
: This last statement is, quite simply, BULLSHIT. The charges for this
: number are not anywhere close to $25/minute. They are the normal
: international long distance charges for a call to the British Virgin
: Islands, which depend on your long distance company, but are generally
: in the neighborhood of $1/minute for calls from the U.S., dialed 1+
: from home.
Yes calling the 809 # is about $1/minute but when it's forwarded to the
900 number beware!
OBTW A popular SCAM nowdays is the crook sits up a 900 number with payout
in the Cayman's with a 6 or 7 HUNDRED dollar charge on it. Then he
dress up in a delivery persons uniform and shows up at your business.
The package is for someone who does not work at your place of business so
he asks to use a phone to call his dispatch. First time it's busy.
Second time it's busy, third time he gets thru and then he's gone.
A month later you get the bill, and probably won't even catch it if your
a big enough organization.
Linc Madison
In article <rheltonD...@netcom.com>, rhe...@netcom.com (Richard
Helton) wrote:
> Linc Madison (Tel...@Eureka.vip.best.com) wrote:
>
>
> : This last statement is, quite simply, BULLSHIT. The charges for this
> : number are not anywhere close to $25/minute. They are the normal
> : international long distance charges for a call to the British Virgin
> : Islands, which depend on your long distance company, but are generally
> : in the neighborhood of $1/minute for calls from the U.S., dialed 1+
> : from home.
>
> Yes calling the 809 # is about $1/minute but when it's forwarded to the
> 900 number beware!
WRONG. If the 809 number is forwarded to a 900 number, you will still pay
only the charge for the call to the 809 number. The original caller never
pays the charges for the forwarded leg of the call, except with '500' numbers.
For example, if you call a local number that happens to be forwarded to a
long-distance number, you still only pay for the local call. The person
whose phone is forwarded pays the long distance charges.
> OBTW A popular SCAM nowdays is the crook sits up a 900 number with payout
> in the Cayman's with a 6 or 7 HUNDRED dollar charge on it. Then he
> dress up in a delivery persons uniform and shows up at your business.
Can you give me a single example of an incident where this actually
happened? No, I didn't think so.
> A month later you get the bill, and probably won't even catch it if your
> a big enough organization.
Yeah, right. Every "big organization" I've ever seen gets concerned about
any call that costs even $1, and they do double backflips on anything that
gets into double digits. Three calls of several hundred dollars closely
spaced would be caught in a microsecond and challenged as fraudulent.
The Cayman Islands can't pay out if they can't get the caller to pay the
bill. They'd have a chargeback rate of 100.00% on this scam, and they'd
lose their shirts. Scammers are slimy, but not stupid.