WARNING PHONE SCAM

[kayaman]

I recieved this from my local police dept ... BEWARE.......
Subject: Fw: Interesting information about a phone scam! "copy of e-mail from law enforcement officer"
I received a telephone call last evening from an
individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service technician who was conducting a test on telephone lines. He stated that to complete the test
I should touch nine(9), zero(0), the pound sign (#), and then hang up.=

Luckily, I was suspicious and refused. Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you give the requesting
individual full access to your telephone line,which enables them to place long distance calls billed to your home phone number.

I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many local jails/prisons. I have also verified this information with UCB Telecom,

Pacific Bell, MCI, Bell Atlantic and GTE. Please beware. DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE. The GTE Security Department requested that I share this
information with EVERYONE I KNOW. PLEASE pass this on to everyone YOU know. If you have mailing lists and/or newsletters from organizations are connected with, I encourage you to pass on this information to them After checking with Verizon they said it was true, so do not dial (9),=
zero(0), the pound sign # and hang up for anyone.

[JohnR]

I just looked this up and this is what I found on ATT's site:

Find out about the 9-0-# phone scam
The 9-0-# scam has been around for years and is directed at businesses, hospitals, government agencies and other organizations that use telephone switching equipment called private branch exchanges (PBXs) to handle their calls.

This type of fraud involves a perpetrator who calls an office and cons an unsuspecting worker into transferring him or her to an outside line. The perpetrator then starts dialing calls that are charged to the owner of the PBX. In this latest version, the caller claims to be an AT&T service technician "repairing" the phone lines and convinces the recipient of the call to help out by transferring him to an outside line and then hanging up.

Below are some points about this scam worth remembering:

This scam doesn't affect residential customers; its target is businesses.
An AT&T service technician would never call customers and ask them to help check phone lines.
The scam is generating a lot of interest in the media and over the Internet, but our network fraud experts report no increase in the number of fraud cases as a result of this notoriety.
The best prevention against this type of fraud is for business managers to make their office staffs aware of it and to review what to do if it happens.
If someone receives such a call, he or she should ask the "technician" for a call-back number or for the name and number of the caller's supervisor. Then hang up.
To report this or any other phone scams AT&T business customers should call their account representatives. You also can call the AT&T Business Customer Care Center at 1-800-222-0400, or report the scam to your local law enforcement agency.

Kayaman - if you got this on your home # you might want to call ATT's fraud # as they states it's done on businesses and not residential lines...

[kayaman]

thanks for the reply... I recieved this via the local police dept. I will forward it to them

[mrmacey]

when you recieve a call from a prison it tells you cause you cant call right through you have to call collect!! not that i know anything bout prisons!!!