Telephone Scam ALert
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
United States
March 3, 2007 1:24pm CST
Received this notice in my email today. Just passing it along the information.
PASS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
I received a telephone call last evening from an individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service technician who was conducting a test on the 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.
DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE
The GTE Security Department requested that I share this information with EVERYONE I KNOW.
After checking with Verizon they said it was true, so do not dial 90# for anyone!!!!!
PLEASE HIT THAT FORWARD BUTTON AND PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
7 people like this
13 responses
@DesignDiva (379)
• United States
5 Mar 07
Wow, it's hard to believe that the phone companies would set up something where dialing a few numbers would give someone access to your telephone line. I mean, when would anyone ever actually use that feature?
Thanks for passing on that tip. Geez, you never know what kinds of scams people will think up next do you?
You know, I had to give up my home phone line b/c I was getting so many telemarketer and scam phone calls. It was insane. I was on the do-not-call list, but I'd still get around 10 per day. Those people need to get a life!!
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
5 Mar 07
Oh, that's horrible. I am stressed out with a few telemarketing calls a month. I couldn't imagine 10 a day.
1 person likes this
@dmillman (2273)
• United States
3 Mar 07
Makes you wonder why the heck the phone companies even have this feature. I mean, can you think of a time that you might actually use that feature? I can't! Thanks for the info. I've been involved in credit card fraud recently, and I don't think I could handle anything else right now!!!
3 people like this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
4 Mar 07
I guess it was originally created to help people. Some people can't afford long distance. Maybe it was a way to help family or friends stay in touch.
1 person likes this
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
4 Mar 07
Thanks for the info! I don't have a hard line but it's still very interesting and I will pass it on to my friends and family. :)
2 people like this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
4 Mar 07
I really don't think it matters what phone service you have. I think it would make sense to question any call coming in asking you to press numbers on your phone for testing purposes.
1 person likes this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
5 Mar 07
I hope so, I think too many people experience problems with their cellular service. This is something I think a lot of people might fall victim too!
1 person likes this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
3 Mar 07
I think I would have pressed the numbers too! I have Bellsouth and they just merged with At & T. I would have assumed they were tweaking the system.
You have to give the scam artists credit though. How many people experience problems with their cellular service. I know my cell service bites and I have complained. If they called and said we are testing....yikes I would be trouble.
2 people like this
@shakeroo (3986)
• Malaysia
4 Mar 07
that is a very good info although in this part of the world we are served by different telco company, you will never know such thing could happen here too. Although, I have heard of quite a few scams involving mobile phone but personally i have not encountered one. this will be something to watch out for.
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
5 Mar 07
you never know....just be careful.
1 person likes this
@KrazyKlingon (5005)
• United States
6 Mar 07
This scam has been going on for a while. While it's something that has not happened to me, it has been in the news when it first started & sort of spread like an epidemic several years ago.
Anyway, you did the right thing in your refusal. That goes for anyone else who also got suspicious & refused, or even hung up on them.
1 person likes this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
8 Mar 07
This scam alert was news to me. I would have been the gullible one. This message was passed on to me from someone else. I just wanted to make sure people were aware.
@claudia413 (4280)
• United States
3 Mar 07
I didn't realize this was still going around. I received notice several years ago and passed the word along to all my contacts. There are way too many scams out there, and we all need to be aware of them. Thanks for posting. I do hope everyone reads it.
2 people like this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
3 Mar 07
I know...so many people are easy prey for this one too! How many people experience dropped calls or server busy messages?
1 person likes this
@snowflake5 (1579)
• United States
6 Mar 07
The scammers come up with something new everyday, don't they? The only way to beat them is to spread the info as fast as possible.
I received a letter in the post today (from Spain!) saying that my name had been entered in a lottery by mistake and I had won 600,000 euros and could I please give them my ban details so they could pay me!
I don't know how they got my address - I guess one of the online sites I'm registered with sold them the info.
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
6 Mar 07
Luckily, they haven't sent me any postals mails but I think everyday I get an email notification that I have won the lottery, inherited some money or some other strange story of how I managed to be the LUCKY one.
They always want my bank info and of course the letter is from the embassy, a dignitary or the president of the sweepstakes. LOL Very Official business.
@tammyr (5946)
• Etowah, Tennessee
5 Mar 07
I sent it along to all on my e-mail list.=o} Thank you!
I have actually had to dial 90# for some one. When we got a pre-paid phone we could not get it activated and when we called CS they had to have access to our phone to be able to activate it!
Be assured I had called them to fix the problem, and was sure of who I was dealing with so no bad story to tell!
If someone had called me back and asked me to do this on that phone I would have thought it was okay because they had me do it before and I did not know that is what it did.
So I may know why it is used, but I did not know that is what it did .
1 person likes this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
6 Mar 07
I guess the scam artists got wind of the 90# and used it to the advantage. It makes me so mad!
@lifeiseasy (2292)
• United States
8 Mar 07
No way ..this is not cool ... I wonder how these people even come up with theses ideas on how to scam people ..thats sucks ..thanks for telling us all here ... and I will for sure tell everyone I know about this scam as well ..its great that you thought to tell everyone here kudos to you my friend :D
1 person likes this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
11 Mar 07
It's a 50/50 deal. Half of the people were aware of the scam and the others weren't. I would have fell for it.
@66jerseygirl (3877)
• United States
22 Apr 07
thanks for the information! I wasn't aware of this scam but I will be sure to let people know.thanks again
