New service technician phone scam bills you for long distance calls
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Published: December 18, 2002
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
If you receive a phone call from someone who claims to be a telephone company service technician, hang up or you might be the victim of a yet another expensive scam.
This latest scam targets a wide, wide audience. . .anyone who has a phone.
The way the scam works is that a person calls and claims to be a technician with a phone company or long distance carrier.
The scam artist claims that they are conducting a test on the telephone line to determine if it is faulty and needs the person answering the phone to touch 9, 0 and the pound (#) button and then hang up the phone.
If you do, you’ll be in for a surprise: pushing 90# gives full access to your telephone line, which enables the scam artist who called the chance to call anyone they would like to, all on your phone bill.
You won’t know you’ve been had until a long list of expensive long distance calls shows up on your phone bill.
The scam is identical to one that has victimized businesses in recent years: in such cases when the business phone was answered the person was asked to dial 9, then 0 and then hang up, giving the caller an “outside line” to place long distance phone calls.
This scam targeted home phones works the same way although the pound key must be pressed for the outside line phone access to be complete.
Supposedly, many of these scam calls are coming from jail and prison inmates who do not hesitate to identify themselves as AT&T, MCI, Verizon, Pacific Bell or any other telephone service carrier technicians.
And always remember: if something doesn’t sound or seem right, well, go with that gut feeling.
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