I received this warning from a friend in the USA,..so heads up folks should you get a call to phone this area code. WATCH OUT NEW AREA CODE Costly NEW AREA CODE: READ AND PASS ALONG 809 Area Code 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 did not respond. Then this week, we received the following e-mail: Do Not DIAL AREA CODE 809, 284, AND 876 from the U.S. or Canada . 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 information 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. or Canada , you will apparently be charged a minimum of $2425 per-minute.
This warning has been going around since the mid to late 1990's http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp Area code 809 is for the Dominican Republic, 284 is the British Virgin Islands and 876 is Jamaica and they aren't new. If you know people in those area codes, calling them is perfectly okay, just don't return a call from someone you don't know. International phone calls are $25 per minute, so the scammers try to get you to stay on the line for as long as possible so they can charge you (through your phone service provider) several hundred dollars. If you do fall victim to the scam, you can contact your phone company to protest the charge and usually they will remove it from your bill. If not you can contact the FCC and they will work to help get it removed. According to the FCC, apparently the scam has started up again this time made to wireless phones...first time around it was land lines and through emails.
We get one often from get this: 000 000 0000 we have audio caller ID, funny when she say's zero, zero, zero etc. etc. And we get one actually announces Dom. Rep. We know enough not to pick up.
All the scams I hear about lately can all be avoided if you just use common sense. Don't talk to strangers. Don't think you can get anything for nothing ... this includes a prize, a cruise or anything else. Think about it ... why would anyone call you to give you something for FREE? I have a rule in my house for anyone answering the phone - do NOT give any personal information and do NOT answer any surveys! I also have call display. If the call is from an odd number (000-000-0000) or 'unknown caller' or 'private' I do not answer. period. If you want me to talk to you, your name and number had better come up on my display.
Back when we had land lines and a talking phone lol would say private our area 0s and it was just mom calling from work --or uncle lol it seemed goofy but we all knew that was what the hospital setup --but if I don't know the call or it's not in my phone book I don't answer it if I leave my number I tell them to leave a message so there's a heads up too --and I've had this number like 8 or more years so no wrong number worry like with my burner lol
We have a lamdline 'phone which shows the number of who is calling. If we don't recognise it then we simply don't answer. We do have relatives in America but we know their numbers. We can also block calls that we don't want contacting us so that we never hear from them again.
Yeah, there's lots of phone scams. We have a landline but we never answer. We just listen to the messages and if it's a legit call and a legit number then we call back. It also helps cause we never pick up on telemarketing calls.