How the ‘one ring scam' can cost you money

Steve williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
By: Herb Weisbaum CNBC

When your phone rings and you miss the call, do you call back to see who it was?
Con artists know a lot of us will do that, and they're using this curiosity factor to cram unauthorized charges onto people's phone bills.

The Better Business Bureau recently issued a fraud alert for the "one ring scam" after being contacted by people all across the country. Here's how it works.

The scammers use automatic dialers to randomly call phone numbers. After the first ring, they disconnect. The bad guys hope you'll see that number in your missed call log and be curious enough to return it.

Make that call and they've got you.

You'll be connected to an expensive international hotline—usually an "adult entertainment" service—that charges as much as $19.95 as soon as you connect. There may also be a sizable per-minute fee. Those costs typically show up on your phone bill as "premium services."

(Read more: Identity theft rises as crooks get more creative)

Katherine Hutt, director of communications at the Council of Better Business Bureaus, said this "ring and run" scam is highly effective because it's so simple.

"No one would ever imagine they'd be charged as much as $20 to make a phone call," Hutt said. There's no warning message about the charges, and there's nothing that indicates that the area code you're dialing is for the Caribbean Islands."

Those area codes include Antigua (268), British Virgin Islands (284), Dominican Republic (809), Grenada (473), Jamaica (876) and Turks & Caicos Islands (649).

Crooks in Antigua called J.P. Flachier a few weeks ago. His wife was traveling that day, so he thought it was important to return the missed call, never suspecting that the area code was in the Caribbean.


The call was answered with music and a recording that said, "Hold on for the operator." That's a common trick, designed to keep you on the line as long as possible in order to rack up those additional per-minute charges.

Luckily, Flachier thought "something was weird" and hung up right away. So far, no suspicious charges on his bill, but he plans to keep checking.

People with mobile devices are the prime target for this dial-and-disconnect scam because every cellphone has caller ID and a missed call log. And since long-distance calls are typically free with wireless plans, most of us don't think twice about placing a call to another area code that appears to be in the U.S. With a cellphone, you don't even need to dial a 1 first.

To beat the bad guys, you need to stop and think before you return any unknown call. You can Google the number, to check the area code and see if there are any scam reports.

Better yet, just ignore it.
"If it's unknown, leave it alone," Hutt advised. "If you don't recognize the number, don't call back"

If you fell for this scam, contact your cell provider right away and keep an eye on future phone bills for other unauthorized charges that might follow. You should also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
 
By: Herb Weisbaum CNBC

When your phone rings and you miss the call, do you call back to see who it was?
Con artists know a lot of us will do that, and they're using this curiosity factor to cram unauthorized charges onto people's phone bills.

The Better Business Bureau recently issued a fraud alert for the "one ring scam" after being contacted by people all across the country. Here's how it works.

The scammers use automatic dialers to randomly call phone numbers. After the first ring, they disconnect. The bad guys hope you'll see that number in your missed call log and be curious enough to return it.

Make that call and they've got you.

You'll be connected to an expensive international hotline—usually an "adult entertainment" service—that charges as much as $19.95 as soon as you connect. There may also be a sizable per-minute fee. Those costs typically show up on your phone bill as "premium services."

(Read more: Identity theft rises as crooks get more creative)

Katherine Hutt, director of communications at the Council of Better Business Bureaus, said this "ring and run" scam is highly effective because it's so simple.

"No one would ever imagine they'd be charged as much as $20 to make a phone call," Hutt said. There's no warning message about the charges, and there's nothing that indicates that the area code you're dialing is for the Caribbean Islands."

Those area codes include Antigua (268), British Virgin Islands (284), Dominican Republic (809), Grenada (473), Jamaica (876) and Turks & Caicos Islands (649).

Crooks in Antigua called J.P. Flachier a few weeks ago. His wife was traveling that day, so he thought it was important to return the missed call, never suspecting that the area code was in the Caribbean.


The call was answered with music and a recording that said, "Hold on for the operator." That's a common trick, designed to keep you on the line as long as possible in order to rack up those additional per-minute charges.

Luckily, Flachier thought "something was weird" and hung up right away. So far, no suspicious charges on his bill, but he plans to keep checking.

People with mobile devices are the prime target for this dial-and-disconnect scam because every cellphone has caller ID and a missed call log. And since long-distance calls are typically free with wireless plans, most of us don't think twice about placing a call to another area code that appears to be in the U.S. With a cellphone, you don't even need to dial a 1 first.

To beat the bad guys, you need to stop and think before you return any unknown call. You can Google the number, to check the area code and see if there are any scam reports.

Better yet, just ignore it.
"If it's unknown, leave it alone," Hutt advised. "If you don't recognize the number, don't call back"

If you fell for this scam, contact your cell provider right away and keep an eye on future phone bills for other unauthorized charges that might follow. You should also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Seen that recently too...

If someone wants to reach me, they can leave a msg. Yes, I've had a a few 268 codes lately and until read this piece wondered what was up. Take home msg. Don't call back a number unless you know who it is.
 
This is good to know! I picked up my phone the other day and saw I missed a call from the 268 prefix.
I told myself I'd google the # later, since I'd never seen it before..
I forgot all about it, it's still in my "missed calls" log.
 
If the phone rings and I don't pick it up fast enough, I let the caller call back and leave a message. The answering machine is always on so I never miss a legitimate call.

I never call back a missed call unless I recognize it. I hate the telephone.

If someone really, really wants me, they can call and let it ring until I pick it up or I push the send to voicemail or disconnect button.

I make a list of callers I don't recognize and make weekly reports to the www.donotcall.gov complaint line.
 
It was reported in the local news that people in the area were getting fake parking tickets. I think the tickets were even from other cities where the people used to live. The parking tickets had a number to call if you had questions. If you called the number, you were connected to an expensive hotline just like the one ring scam. Not only do they get money from the people that pay the tickets, but if you don't pay and call you still get scammed!
 
It was reported in the local news that people in the area were getting fake parking tickets. I think the tickets were even from other cities where the people used to live. The parking tickets had a number to call if you had questions. If you called the number, you were connected to an expensive hotline just like the one ring scam. Not only do they get money from the people that pay the tickets, but if you don't pay and call you still get scammed!

Yes and also fraudulent charges on their EZ Pass bills too.
 

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