Possible Phone Scams
 

Yesterday evening, we received a phone call from, what the caller ID said was, Allstate. As soon as I answered, there was a recording requesting me to call some phone number with area code 855 regarding my auto insurance. I imediately hung up, since I don't have auto insurance with them. I noticed that the phone number shown on the caller ID was 9999999999. That struck me as very strange.

I received an e-mail a week or so ago about some sort of thing like this, but the area code was not 855, but 866, I think. The e-mail went on to say that if you call this number, you will be directed to some overseas answering service and will be charged around $2500 per minute. The phone company won't help you with getting the charge removed either.

I'll see if I can find that e-mail and copy-paste it here.

I just had a bad feeling about this, because I felt that if someone wanted to talk to me, they should do so instead of having me call them back.

Be careful who you return calls to.

OK I found the e-mail I was referring to. It did not refer to area code 855, but that may have been created since this was first put out.

New Area Code - PLEASE READ.. Be sure you read this and pass it on.

I checked it out with AT&T and snopes - it's true.

809 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 did not respond. Then this week, we received the
following e-mail:

Do Not 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 U.S. , 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. WHY IT
WORKS:

The 809 area code is located in the Dominican Republic ...

The charges afterward 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.

AT&T VERIFIES IT'S TRUE : _http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045_
(http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045)

Phone Scam
 

Ummm...... if you actually do check with Snopes you will find this is mostly not true.

The scam artists are unscrupulous, unsavory, unethical, low-life shallow-end-of-the-gene-pool types of people but one thing they are not is STUPID! They come up with scams much faster that "the good folks" can come up with remedies. If they would direct their efforts towards good causes instead on rip offs, they would do wonders in this world.

Now that I have vented, the real point is that there is an organization in TV that will come out to your group (religious, social, service, political, neighborhood, ad hoc, or whatever) to speak about scams, how to spot them, how to avoid them, and what to do if caught by them. They do not charge for their services. That organization is Seniors Vs Crime and they are a Special Project of the Florida Attorney General's Office. They have two offices in TV - one with the Marion County Sheriff near Mulberry Recreation Center (352-753-7775) and one with the Sumter County Sheriff in the Sumter County Government Annex Building at Morse and CR 466 (352-689-4600, X4606). There is usually something about their Speakers Bureau each Thursday in the Rec Center News supplement to The Daily Sun. Give them a call to schedule a presentation on common scams for your group.

Maybe the answer to all this considering the world we now live in is don't take part in any transaction that you didn't originate. Accept no phone, snail mail, e-mail, or door front offers or solicitations.....When returning phone calls to family, friends, or business associates only use phone numbers out of your personal phone book.....and remember if the offer sounds too good to be true it probably is.
Oh and don't forget to inform all your children that they are never to call grandma or grandpa if they are in an accident or in jail and then inform parents that their grandchildren will NEVER call them for money needed due to being in an accident or thrown in jail. My 86 year old mother was just thrown into a panic when she thought my son was calling her for $3000+ for emergency room treatment after he had a car accident. Fortunately she remembered her grandson doesn't have a car so she hung up. Still it scared her and she thought what if it had been true and she just rejected a plea for help from her grandson.
Isn't it wonderful to have to become in a distrusting and skeptical person in order to not be taken advantage of.
Suzanne

Another grandchild needing bail money phone scam
 

A few days ago my 81 year old father called me at work. He had just received a phone call from a young man (who did not identify himself by name) addressing my dad as "Grandpa" and asking my dad for $2,000 to get himself bailed out of jail. My father has 3 granddaughters, no grandsons. One of my sisters has a 24 yr. old stepson who is in the military stationed in Texas. My dad thought maybe it was my sister's stepson calling him because he was too embarrassed to call his parents for bail money. Luckily my father was somewhat suspicious, told the caller his didn't have that kind of money readily available and hung up on the scammer. I told my dad about this scam that has been going on for a few years about people posing as grandkids and calling senior citizens for bail money/emergency car repair money/emergency medical care money, etc.

A friend of mine actually fell for a similar phone scam a couple of years ago, and she is only in her early 50's -- she got scammed out of about $300, so you don't have to be a senior citizen to be approached. But she should have known better than to send money to someone she never met in person.

Wonder if these lowlifes just start dialing numbers at random during the day, as most people answering home phones on weekdays are probably either retired senior citizens, stay-at-home moms, second or third shift workers or the unemployed. Once they get someone who sounds like a senior citizen on the phone, the scam starts. Be careful out there.

We've been getting several calls a week, sometimes twice a day from what the caller ID identifies as Atkins, T,321-559-xxxx (x's just in the event it's legit, which is highly unlikely). No one ever answers, and the phone goes to dial tone. Anybody else getting calls from this number or person? Really curious, and google shows nothing. I've called the number back, and I get the mailbox

I just love the email scams. I always answer they and tell them to send me a few hundred or thousands of dollars and I will be more than willing to open an account for them to send all that wonderful money to with the proper account number, bank name and all the rest of the information they need to do a transfer. So far I have never heard back from anyone of them and have stopped getting the Nigerian Scam Email. Guess that my email address was sent around as no good to deal with.

Why the resume at the bottom of your message. Just thought a little strange.

I guess some folks like to blow their own horn !

A new one
 

Today I got a call with caller ID number 1102. Hours later another call from number 4. Obviously these aren't actual phone numbers. I didn't answer either call. Anyone else ever get one of these? It was new to me.

I got a robo call from "Wells Fargo Security", I do have an account there, saying there was a security breech and I should dial 1 to be connected to the Security dept to recover my account.

I hung up and later called Wells Fargo....they told me it was a phising scam.

Made the right choice on that one......

Phone Scams
 

i agree with Bryan, if they would direct their efforts towards good causes instead on rip offs, they would do wonders in this world..

and i did get a call like that. i remembered when i came across your post and i tell you, what you have here is true. it was a missed call and a certain Andrew left a message on my phone, that I have a serious problem and that i needed to call back so i could fix it. even left me this reference ID#43694525. the number he used had 877 area code. i did call because it seemed legit and genuine. a voice prompt asked me to dial an extension so i get connected to Andrew. i did and after that, i only got music on the other end. i stayed on the line for another 20 minutes, worried that something bad might have happened. when i realized that I may not be able to speak with Andrew, i hung up and went on with my task. when i checked the number online, I've forgotten about the whole thing until i got my telephone bill and it showed a charge of $4020 for a long distance call! and the phone number was a trick. i had to go through the whole dispute process, which the telephone company made even harder for me, to get the charge removed. if i have to cut my phone line, so be it, but I'll never give in to this scam! and makes me wonder, the phone company benefits the most from these type of scams, could they have started it? what do you think?

Phone Scams
 

and by the way, i reported the whole thing to the consumer complaint site called Callercenter and guess what? 3 others also reported the same number. what a scammer!