Not a Radsafe issue, but information people should know

[MARK WINSLOW <WINSLOW.MARK@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV>]

>>>
   Subject: SCAM INFORMATION

                                               

PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE SENT
BY THE NATIONAL FRAUD INFORMATION
CENTER... 

beware... there are demons out there. 
A new scam has been identified by the
National  Fraud Information Center 
that is costing victims BIG BUCKS! 
The scam works basically like this: 

You get home and notice that the message light
is blinking  on your answering machine.  You
listen to the message,  which has several
wrinkles, but the best one is the caller asks  you
to call a number beginning with area code 809
to receive  information about a family member
who has been ill. (They  may also tell you
someone has been arrested, died, you have
won  a wonderful prize, etc.) In any event,
concerned or curious, you make the call. 
Sometimes the phone will be answered by a
person who claims  to speak broken English. 
(The idea is to keep you on the line  to build up
charges.)  Or, sometimes you will just get a long
 recorded message.  The bottom lines is, when
your phone  bill comes, you see this incredible
charge, oftentimes more than  $100.00 dollars!
Crooks are using the 809 numbers as
"pay-per-calls" and to  get around the
US Regulations and 900 number blocking. 
Every  time you call the number, they get a
greatly inflated rebate  from the foreign phone
company.  Since the 809 numbers are in  the
Caribbean, they aren't bound by US 900#
regulations that require them to warn you of the
charge and rate involved,  and also to provide a
time period during which you may  terminate
the call without being 
charged. 

The newest twist to this scam is to page people
using the  809 numbers.  With the new area
code changes, people  unknowingly are
returning these calls. When the bill comes, 
there are HUGE charges for the calls.  My
suggestion is that no matter how you get the
message, if  you are asked to call a number
with an 809 area code that  you don't
recognize,  DON'T RETURN THE CALL!  It's
bad  enough that the criminal is invading your
privacy, don't let them  invade you wallet as well!
 
Scams of this type are extremely hard to
prosecute and  since you did actually make the
call, neither your local phone  company or your
long distance carrier will want to get  involved. 
They'll tell you that they are simply providing 
the billing for the foreign company.  You end up
trying to deal (over the phone) with a foreign
company that feels  they have done no wrong. 
It can turn into a real nightmare! Please fwd this
msg to friends and let people be aware of it! 

Mark Winslow