The Eyes and Ears of Rural Alberta

The Facts About The 809 Area Code Scam

The 809 area code scam first surfaced five years ago and continues to victimize consumers on occasion, although much less frequently than in the past. And there have been far more inquiries recently than consumers actually being victimized. How the Scam Works:
In most cases a message is left on an answering machine or pager requesting the recipient call a number immediately for one of several reasons. The most common involves calling for information about a relative who has died, been arrested or injured. When consumers fall prey and call the number, the scam artist attempts to keep the caller on the line for as long as possible to increase the caller's long distance calling charges.

The bogus e-mail claims the 809 area code sends calls to the British Virgin Islands, when in fact 809 is the country code for the Dominican Republic.

The e-mail also warns consumers that dialling the 809 area code will result in charges of $2,400 per minute. That simply isn't true. The basic rate for a call to the Dominican Republic is less than $3 a minute although some 809 numbers terminate with pay-per-call services that permit the levy of additional fees. Since numbers located offshore are not subject to U.S. laws, there are no legal requirements that consumers be informed in advance of the extra charge.

And lastly, the e-mail purports to originate within AT&T's corporate offices and includes the name and partial telephone number of an imaginary employee.

Defence:
To avoid falling prey to the scam, AT&T recommends consumers know where they're calling before they dial. When consumers receive such a message from someone they don't know they should simply disregard it. Consumers should also be aware that it is usually necessary to dial 011 to reach an international location. However, there are some locations outside the United States, such as the Caribbean and Canada, whose telephone numbers resemble domestic long-distance calls, but carry a higher international rate.

If a consumer isn't familiar with a certain area code, they can visit www.consumer.att.com to look up any area code or country code in the world.