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Re: Area code 809 scam



It's a scam--Here's what I got at Urban Legends:
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Inboxer Rebellion (809 Phone Scam) ???? 
Callers lured into placing calls into the 809 area code are charged a
horrendous fee for every minute they stay on the line.
  809 Phone Scam Claim: Unsuspecting phone customers have been gulled by
scam artists into placing calls to area codes in the Caribbean that result
in ...
  ... on the net are dire warnings not to call numbers in the 809 area
code, because these codes are part of scams designed to run up your phone
bill. The ...
  ... will go way up. Not because calls to the 809 area code are billed at
a higher rate than calls to any other area code, but rather because you
will ...
94% Tue, 17 Oct 2000 04:46:12 GMT http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/809.htm 

Robin Kennedy
Project Archivist
Northern Michigan University
Marquette, MI 49855

At 04:44 PM 10/31/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>A faculty member at Texas A&M has distributed around camus an alert
warning folks about getting an emegency message on your voice mail or
answering machine asking you to call a number with an 809 area code.  The
message varies from a relative being ill, a death in the family, or your
winning a huge prize but does not give any specifics.  You are urged to
return the call as soon as possible.
>The scam is that 809 is not a U. S. area code but is in the British Virgin
Islands  and is similar to the 900 numbers for which the caller has to pay.
 In this case, however, the charge is $2425 per minute!! and it shows up on
your local phone bill. Your phone company cannot do anything about it as
foreign companies are not subject to U.S. regulations.
>
>Have any of you heard anything about this?  Is it real or is it one of
those urban legends?
>
>
>
>
>Charles R. Schultz, CA
>Professor and Clements Archivist
>Cushing Library
>Texas A&M University
>College Station, TX  77843-5000
>c-schultz@tamu.edu
>979-862-1555
>FAX 979-845-1441
>
>State-of-the-art automation will never beat the wastebasket 
>when it comes to speeding up efficiency in the office.
>Ann Landers Gem of the Day, July 27, 1994
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>