How to Avoid a $2,000 a Month Scam

In a recent telephone conversation with a friend of mine in another state I learned of how she had fallen for a new scam which which over a period of 45 days cost her $2,800. The scam is a clever one, taking advantage of unsuspecting people and playing on their fears.

The scam works as follows:

The victim wakes to a ringing telephone late at night or in the early morning hours. Most often the call is received after the victim has been asleep for several hours. A panicked voice on the other end asks if this is telephone # xxx xxx xxxx. When the victim responds the caller then proceeds to tell him/her that he is at the scene of a terrible accident and that one of the unidentified victims has this telephone number to be be called in an emergency. When the half asleep receiver of the call attempts to ask questions the caller responds by saying that he has no details, but that there is a response squad on site and that the squad section leader is authorized to answer questions. He then gives a telephone number for the person to call. The number is *72 yyy yyy yyyy.

When the scam victim calls this number there is no answer and most often the rest of the sleepless night is spent trying to verify the validity of the call, which eventually is written off as a hoax.

What the call victim does not realize is that by placing a call to *72 yyy yyy yyyy he/she has provided unlimited access to his/her telephone line from telephone yyy yyy yyyy.

In the case of my friend she unknowingly authorized unlimited use of her telephone line to local ex-con who used an inexpensive cell phone (yyy-yyy-yyyy) to make unlimited long distance calls for 48 days before my friend received her telephone bill and noticed over $2,000 in charges on the previous month. An additional $800 in charges were run up in the following month before she could contact her telephone carrier and cancel the authorization.

It appears that the scammer not only made long distance calls himself, but sold time to his acquaintances, allowing them to make long distance calls, including international long distance.