What's new

Beware 809 area code

rick12string

Caught in the Crossfire
Rating - 100%
11   0   0
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
2,760
Location
South Carolina
I got the e-mail below today and haven’t verified it myself but at the bottom AT&T and Snopes says it’s true. Just wanted to pass it on.



"We actually received a call last week from the
809 area code. The woman said 'Hey,
this is Karen . Sorry I missed you--get back to us
quickly. I have something important to tell you.' Then
she repeated a phone number beginning with 809 We didn't
respond.
Then this week, we received the following
e-mail:

Do Not DIAL AREA CODE
809,
284, AND
876

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION
PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE
809

This
one is being distributed all over the US . This is
pretty scary, especially given the way they try to get
you to call.

Be sure
you read this and pass it on.

They get you to call
by telling you that it is informat ion about a family
member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been
arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a
wonderful prize, etc.
In each case, you are told to call
the
809 number right away.. Since there
are so many new area codes these days, people
unknowingly return these
calls.


If you call from
the
U.S. , you will apparently be
charged $2425
per-minute.

Or, you'll
get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try
to keep you on the phone as long as possible to incre ase
th e charges.
WHY IT WORKS:

The
809 area code is
located in the Dominican Republic.
The charges afterward can become a real
nightmare. That's because you did actually make the
call. If you complain, both your local phone company and
your long dista nce carrier will not want to get involved
and will most likely tell you that they are simply
providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll
end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they
have done nothing wrong.

Please forward this
entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to
help them become aware of this ;
scam."
AT&T VERIFIES IT'S TRUE:

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045
SNOPES VERIFIES IT'S TRUE:
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

I hope this will keep someone from getting scammed if it's true.
 
Rating - 100%
10   0   0
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
1,530
Location
Beaumont, CA
The DR is such a great place...right next to beautiful Haiti. With our technology, it would be very easy to find these pukes. Let some highly motivated individuals fly down to the DR an take care of these people. Nobody would miss these pukes, but our gov. won't do s**t.

Jason
 
Rating - 100%
110   0   0
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Messages
4,845
Location
Harrisburg, PA
I got the call a couple times with my old cell phone while I was living in Florida (not that location had anything to do with it). It was a looping voicemail with prompts I knew it was a scam thanks to that.
 

Cigary43

Just Another Ashhole
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
3,742
Location
San Diego/Atlanta
Amazing what peope will do to try and seperate you from your money. The wife and I went thru this a few months ago where we were selling off some things in our house after doing some upgrades. We had mirrors and cabinets and sinks we were trying to sell when this lady says she wants to buy them. Well, being that we did this thru Craigslist the lady sends us $500 too much and wants us to send about $400 of it back while we keep the rest as a token of doing good business with her,,,,riigggghhhtttt! We had been talking to her thru PM's and we never did put the check into our account because we knew it was a scam,,,but the thing I never did count on was when I would see her on AIM I would call her a scamming bitch,,,she didn't care as she had no problem telling me that she hated Americans and that she did this to punish and rip off as many Americans as possible because of her hate. She felt justified in scamming as many people as possible. My advice to anyone,,,ALWAYS check and verify before doing what they want you to do,,whether it's a phone call ( don't call that number instead call the phone company and have them run the number,,,if you put an ad in the paper make sure you ask for cash or a bank check drawn on a local bank where you can go to cash it there,,,not drawn on your account. If it seems to good to be true,,,guess what?
 
Top