Phone scam warning

[Dan Forman]

I got the following email today about a new phone scam, thought I'd pass it on.

Dan


PASS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW


I received a telephone call last evening from an individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service technician who was conducting a test on telephone lines. He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine(9), zero(0), the pound sign (#), and then hang up.




Luckily, I was suspicious and refused.
< /SPAN>


Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you give the requesting individual full access to your telephone line, which enables them to place long distance calls billed to your home phone number.




I was further informed that this scam ! has been originating from many local jails/prisons I have also verified this information with UCB Telecom,Pacific Bell, MCI, Bell Atlantic
and GTE. Please beware.


DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE.

[Larry Klaaren]

Hi Dan,

You might want to check out the Snopes "Urban Legends" website.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/jailcall.asp

I've seen that e-mail several times in the last few years. The scam is "possible" but will only work if the recipient of the call is on a system on which outside calling has been disabled. This type of phone system is called a "telephone private branch exchange (PBX)." You'd probably know if you were on one.

The Snopes site has information about this and other telephone scams, both real and legendary.

That being said, it's always best to be suspicious of that kind of a request.

Larry

[Jim DeLaney]

As Larry already said, this is a hoax that's been going around for quite a while now:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/jailcall.asp