WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. October 29, 2003: AT & T and Verizon are warning customers of a telephone "legal" swindle sweeping the country, that is, according to reports being left on answering machines and in e-mails in the local area. The swindle is, according to AT & T, occurring with increasing frequency, can cost you a minimum of $2,400 and up and you can only avoid it if you are aware of it.
According to an official release from an AT & T Field Service Manager, you should not respond to telephone calls, e-mails, or websites requesting you to call back to a number in the 809, 284 and 876 area codes.
The 809 Area code is located in the British Virgin Islands, not subject to United States legal jurisdiction. Consumers receiving the "set-up call" are asked to call back that number for some urgent reason. Calls received vary the ploy. You will be asked to call back to receive information about a member of your family who may have died, been in an accident, or won a prize, and instructed to call back the 809 number immediately.
AT & T advises not to do it, and advises all family members not to call back if they should receive such a call.
The internal AT & T memo describes the expensive results if you should call the 809 number. You get a long recorded message to keep you on the phone to 809 as long as possible to ratchet up the charges. Some unfortunate people have received bills over $24,100.
No Warning. No Statement of Charges.
The sad truth is, this is legal, though fraudulent. The 809 Area Code is used as a "pay-per-call" number, like "900" numbers in the U.S. However, it is not subject to United States "900" number regulations, which stipulate, you be contacted and told the charges and rates when you call a "pay-per-call" number.
When you call an "809," you also are not given a time period in which you can end the call without charges. You also cannot block "809's" in the United States.
According to the AT & T Field Service communication, there is no easy way out of the thousands of dollars you may incur on your next Verizon and AT&T bill as a result of this.
According to the AT & T memo, the position of telephone companies is that they are providing billing for the foreign company. The memo indicates you will have to take up the charge with that foreign company that will claim you did make the call.
WPCNR has heard of this scheme before, but calls of this nature were received in White Plains within the last week and residents should be aware that the 809 swindle is very much in play.
First Time Caller, Charges Will Not Be Enforced.
John Bonomo, who handles media relations for Verizon in the New York Downstate area told WPCNR that Verizon customers who have made a call of this nature for the first time, and didn't know about the scam, that "we'll refund the charges." Bonomo said that this scam had beend dormant for a while, but now has started up again. He said that the telephone companies work with authorities to try and eliminate these operations, but that he knew of no prosecutions of organizations or individuals floating these types of scams.
