Old telephone scam making another round

A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, recently went home to find an odd message on her voice mail. It said, "Hey, this is Karen. Sorry I missed you. Get back to us quickly."

The caller left a phone number with an 809 area code. Fortunately for the home owner, she did not return the call. If she had, it might have cost her more than $2,000.

An old phone scam is apparently resurfacing, and residents are being warned to keep their guards up.

The 809 area code is in the Bahamas. It can be used like a 900 number. But because it is not in the United States, it does not fall under regulations that require phone companies to notify residents of pay-per-call numbers such as 900 numbers, according to an AT&T spokesman.

In the most common scenarios, the potential victim receives an e-mail or a page with the 809 area code or a voice message saying there is either a family emergency or they've won a prize and they need to call the 809 number immediately.

That number usually rings to a long voice message. What the victim doesn't realize is that listening to that long message usually costs an arm and a leg.

In one of the more extreme cases reported, a victim was charged $2,425 per minute, according to AT&T. Some victims have received phone bills totalling more than $24,000.

"We have seen some very large bills," said Utah Division of Consumer Protection Director Francine Giani. "We haven't seen one that large, but nothing would surprise me."

Giani said this scam is nothing new although her office has not heard of any Utah cases in quite a while. Scams work in cycles, however, and, "It wouldn't surprise me if it happened again," she said.

Residents need to remember that only 800 numbers are free and if you're not familiar with a number left on your pager or voice mail, "Don't call it," Giani said.

Michael Dunne, a spokesman from Qwest's regional office in Seattle, said the 809 scam "seems to be the most popular. That's the one I've heard again and again and again."

Dunne said his office traditionally goes a month or two without hearing of anyone being victimized by the 809 scam and then there will be three or four victims in just one month.

"It's important that customers understand there are phone scams out there," he said.

If people get a call from an area code they don't recognize, Dunne suggested looking up the area code in the phone book to find out its origin. Similar scams have been reported using the 284 and 876 area codes.

Many alleged phone scams are simply urban legend, Dunne said. For instance, dialing 90 on your phone will not give the person on the other end access to all of your credit card numbers, he said.

But the 809 scam is real and seems to be "fairly prevalent," Dunne said. He cautions customers to use common sense when they receive strange voice mails or phone numbers they don't recognize.

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