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``` [I had gotten several messages about the famous 809 area code scam, but they were all sketchy and sounded like an urban myth. But this version is sufficiently detailed that it's unlikely to be an urban myth, even if I haven't checked their facts for myself. In any case, my point in sending it out is not to warn of this particular scam, but to raise the theme of pay-per scams in general. Lots of commonplace scenarios for the near-future of the Internet involve mechanisms that transfer money easily and instantaneously from my bank account to your bank account. As these mechanisms come online, scams will arise, seeking out niches like mutating germs and then replicating madly in any niche that proves sufficiently remunerative. Think, for example, of "rights management" technologies -- the ones that permit intellectual property owners to sell online access to their goods in small increments. Perhaps you are presented with a Web page that says, among other things, "Our year-long investigation reveals Microsoft's plan for world domination; US$0.03 for full details, click here". You click, US$79.95 is transferred from your account to a numbered account in the Cayman Islands, and you are none the wiser until your monthly statement arrives. By the time the word spreads about this scam, the scammer (who is sitting on a nice deck, overlooking a beach somewhere and typing away on a laptop) has long since generated another one. Maybe the scams are customized, with information about your buying habits, demographic profile, and history of entering contests all used to fit you into the optimal "market segment". Some people will be told that the year-long investigation reveals impeachable offenses by the President; other people will be told that the Nobel Prize for Medicine has just been awarded to that Swiss doctor who recently announced a cure for cancer. Of course, the same flexibility that permits the Internet to serve as a platform for these proliferating scams also supports mechanisms for containing them. America Online, for example, can advertise a code of practice for organizations selling things through its interface, promise to provide dispute resolution services to its customers, and so on, while happily informing the public about the shark-infested waters outside its walls. The very mention of America Online, though, suggests to me that my imagination is stuck in the past. Someone who gets burned buying a too-good-to-be-true offer from Too-Good-To-Be-True Online Enterprises Inc will no doubt get labeled as a whiner. But that's just one model among many; returning phone calls to a toll-free or long-distance phone number is another. From now on, every model of Internet interaction that has any possibility of transferring money or anything else of value, such as personal information, will have to be designed with scammability in mind. It's not good enough to design a rights management technology, for example, based on simple scenarios of use and simple security scenarios such as people listening in to capture credit card numbers. This is a much wider range of fraud prevention issues that, while highly developed in certain very specialized areas such as credit card and long-distance telephone companies, will now have to become democratized and applied to a much wider variety of design problems. Let's not allow the Internet to get the same swamp-fever reputation as 900 telephone numbers.]
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Date: Sat, 12 Oct 96 17:28:33 -0700
From:
Internet ScamBusters
By Audri and Jim Lanford, NETrageous Inc. Copyright =A9 1996 NETrageous Inc.
Issue #9 October 12, 1996
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=3D More On The "809" SCAM: Internet ScamBusters Uncovers Additional Serious Implications For The Infamous "809" Scam ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=3D
On Monday we sent out a Special Alert to notify subscribers of the "809" Scam. We've been doing a lot of research on this scam all week, and getting a lot of email. Last night we uncovered information which results in much broader implications of this scam than we've seen reported anywhere. So, we're sending out this additional issue of Internet ScamBusters to warn you about the new developments.
Brief review: The "809" scam has many permutations but they all involve a message to you (either by email, phone or pager) that you immediately call a number in the "809" area code to avoid some bad consequence (such as litigation, or to receive information about someone who has been arrested or died) or to gain some good benefit (such as winning a wonderful prize).
The "809" area code is in the Caribbean, yet most people are not aware that they are making an international call when they dial the "809" area code. "809" calls can be "pay-per-call" numbers (such as 900 numbers in the US) - and there are no legal requirements that callers be informed that they are being charged extra. When you return a "pay-per-call" 809 call, they try to keep you on the phone as long as possible, and you are charged very high rates for the call, reportedly up to $25 per minute.
New information: Until recently, the "809" area code covered the entire Caribbean. However, that's changed. There are now a series of new area codes for different countries in the Caribbean. That means there are now additional area codes which victims can unknowingly call with the same results as the original "809" scam. The "268" area code is already reportedly being used by scam artists. And you can be sure that the scammers won't take long to start using these new codes in a big way.
According to representatives at AT&T, here are the new area codes and their effective dates: Country Code Effective Date Bahamas 242 October 1, 1996 Barbados 246 July 1, 1996 Antigua 268 April 1, 1996 Cayman Islands 345 September 1, 1996 Monsterrat 664 July 1, 1996 St. Lucia 758 July 1, 1996 Puerto Rico 787 March 1, 1996 St. Kitts/Nevis 869 October 1, 1996 Jamaica 876 October 1, 1996 (conflicting reports- may still be 809)
Bermuda now has the area code of 441.
A few more countries will be changing their area codes in 1997: N. Commonwealth of Mariana Is. 670 July 1, 1997 Trinidad & Dominica 767 October 1, 1997 Tobago 868 June 1, 1997 (however, this may have already have occurred according to AT&T)
Several countries are keeping the 809 area code, such as the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Virgin Islands, Martinique, St. John (although St. John may change to 268), St. Thomas, and St. Vincent.
(Please note: We spoke with three representatives at AT&T, and they all gave us slightly different information. For example, they varied on whether the effective date for Antigua's change was March 1 or April 1, 1996 and whether Jamaica has a new area code. However, our concern is with the major concepts rather than with the specific details.)
And there's more. AT&T supplied us with a long list of "pay-per-call" numbers. The numbers on this list may include adult sex lines, resume lines, and other "pay-per-call" numbers.
(Please note: this list does not include all of the "pay-per-call" numbers in the Caribbean - and there may be numbers included below that are not "pay-per-call" numbers. Our purpose here is to warn readers of the scope of this problem.)
Antigua / St. John 268-404-4000 to 404-6999 809-404-7411
Dominican Republic 809-404-4000 to 404-6999 809-412-0785 to 412-0787 809-412-0960 to 412-0964 809-414-1000 to 414-1499 809-470-0000 to 414-1949 809-474-0001 to 474-9996 809-476-0105 to 476-0112 809-476-0131 to 476-0135 809-476-0314 to 476-0319 809-476-1001 to 476-1020 809-476-1200 to 476-1229 809-476-1350 to 476-1399 809-476-1400 to 476-1446 809-476-1600 to 476-1629 809-476-1765 to 476-1796 809-476-1930 to 476-1999 809-537-0300 to 537-0899 809-540-5000 to 540-5199 809-563-0000 to 563-0199 809-563-0300 to 563-0699 809-563-9000 to 563-9199 809-563-9300 to 563-9899
St. Vincent 809-456-0000 to 456-9999 809-457-0000 to 457-9999 809-458-0000 to 458-9999 809-485-0000 to 485-9999 809-490-0000 to 490-9999 809-493-0000 to 493-9999
Summary: Be very careful returning phone numbers to area codes you don't recognize, especially when you receive calls, emails or pages with urgent messages that you call these numbers. Call your long distance phone company's operator to find out where the area code is located (or look it up on the net), and only call numbers that make sense to you.
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Two additional "pay-per-call" number scams:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=3D+ SCAM: Some 800 numbers reportedly roll over to "809" and other foreign "pay-per-call" numbers with little or no warning. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A representative at AT&T warned us of a common scam she encounters. Here's how it works: You see an ad on the Internet or in a newspaper for an overseas job opportunity as a "secret shopper" or a "mystery shopper." You call the listed 800 number to either learn more or to apply for the job. You are left on hold for 15 to 20 minutes. You are either warned that the call is being rolled over to a toll call, or you're not warned. However, even when people are warned, they don't realize that the roll over is to an international, "pay-per-call" number. When you are finally connected, you're told all the positions have been filled. When you receive your phone bill, you have a very large charge.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SCAM: "809" and other "pay-per-call" numbers can be used to cheat businesses who offer fax back services. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks to Lee Jones, who alerted us to this scam: Many companies offer a computerized fax-back service where the company faxes requested documents to a phone number entered by the caller. The caller can get the fax-back service to call back their "pay-per-call" number. When the business calls this "pay-per-call" fax number to send the documents, they are charged the very inflated rates. You should consider protecting your business from this scam by blocking area codes such as those listed above.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
An update on the Internet version on the 809 scam we described in the last issue of Internet ScamBusters:
On October 8th, we looked up the domain name and ISP of "Global Communications," the company that had posted the "809" message we included in the last issue. We discovered that the domain name, demon.net, is owned by Demon Systems Limited, in London. We tried calling Demon many times, but their phone was always busy. We emailed them asking what they intended to do about this scam, but we received no reply (other than their automated response that they had received our email).
We also searched the newsgroups to see whether they had posted any additional information. We found three relevant posts. Here is part of the response from Mike Whitaker, Duty Postmaster, Demon Internet Ltd., postmaster@demon.net:
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This message originates from one of our customers and is clearly a 'scam' to persuade people to call the number listed. Demon take a very dim view of such behaviour, and appropriate action is being taken.
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Demon Internet has closed "Global Communications" account and is considering further action.
You can be sure that "Global Communications" and other companies like them will be back soon with different names, phone numbers, email addresses and messages. Again, it's not the specifics of this scam that are important - it's watching out for the general principles.
Incidentally, if you're curious, several people called the 809 phone number "Global Communications" posted to discover what actually happened when you called. Ryan J. Donmoyer, in MONEY Daily on October 9th, reports:
"Callers to the number are led to believe they are talking to a live person, but in fact it is a clever recording that responds to the caller's voice. Among other things, an irate-sounding man with a British accent warns, 'Your check will come round or we'll come round to get it.' The recording seems designed to keep callers on the line as long as possible, and is reportedly billed at $25 per minute."
Others reported that this "man" with a British accent kept telling them to hold on while he picked up other phone calls and supposedly yelled at his staff. He continued to yell at the callers as well, saying "send the money," and yelled into other ringing phones as long as the callers remained on the line.
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Corrections and Clarifications to Issue #8 Of Internet ScamBusters:
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A plug for our newsletter, NETrageous Results: Stop wasting your time, effort and money on unsuccessful Internet marketing. Visit http://www.netrageous.com/netrageous.html
BTW, we are often asked how we can publish Internet ScamBusters and yet sell stuff on the Net. The answer is simple: We respect Internet culture, offer only very high quality products, and give exceptional guarantees on everything we offer. We are passionate about helping businesses achieve outstanding success by providing tremendous value to customers. At the same time, we're committed to helping people avoid getting ripped off by Internet scams, misinformation and hype.
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