Posted on 02/04/2014 4:48:43 AM PST by kingattax
A scam that repeats itself in modified forms every few years is once again spreading throughout the United Sates. Don’t be a victim!
Criminals target people simply by calling them. Intended victims receive a call on their phones from area code 473 which rings once and then disconnects, thereby arousing the call-recipient’s natural curiosity – “who just called me and from where?” Sometimes the caller actually allows the phone to ring long enough for the victim to answer -- after which the caller (or the caller’s robocaller system) makes groaning sounds or otherwise indicates that he or she is in distress and then hangs up, enticing the victim to wonder what is going on and call back.
If either of these happens to you – don’t call back.
While area code 473 may appear to be domestic, it is not. This area code was created in the late 1990s for the islands of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique, which, like the United States, use country code 1.
Calls placed to 473 numbers are international calls and can be quite expensive – and, because the criminals sometimes establish the number which the victim sees on his or her caller ID as a premium service number – the rate can exceed $20 for the first minute!
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Old scams never die; they just get a new life cycle.
I’ve received calls from a couple of these numbers. I don’t answer anything that doesn’t identify the source country/state of the caller. I had wondered why there was only one ring.
Our domestic phone companies should protect us from these scams - not honor the billing until confirmed by the consumer it was authorized.
I called the FCC once about these types of calls and they told me the number on the caller ID is unreliable, that its easy to fake it and there is nothing they can do about it.
My home phone gets flooded with these as that’s the number I give businesses so I use my answering machine (built into my phone) to screen all those calls. So if ID says unknown and they don’t leave a message then too bad.
I also noticed that FIOS puts the caller ID messages on my TV cable display which is handy.
Got a call yesterday from area code 268, but the caller ID on my cell said Antigua.
BTW. no one respects the do not call list anymore. it exists but no one cares...
Yes we received the 268 call with one ring as well
RE my cell phone...If it’s from out of my area code, I don’t answer.
Almost getting to the point that I don’t answer it even IF IT IS from my area code.
RE the home phone (landline w/out caller ID)...we almost never answer it anymore.
If it’s important, I figure they’ll leave a message.
There’s just a handful of family and friends numbers I’ll answer. All others can pound sand.
Last night we were washing and drying the dishes after dinner when my son’s cell phone rang. He looked at his phone and the other party had already hung up but it was from this area code. I told my family about these scams but since I raised a couple of cautious and a bit cynical children they never return or answer calls from any number they do not know.
He11, they're probably getting a cut.
Me, too - Antigua/Barbuda. It only rang twice and I don’t answer numbers I don’t recognize.
Yep. Despite being on the Do Not Call list I was getting a number of marketing calls from various area codes. I complained and was told it was determined these calls were being generated over a VOIP line based in Bulgaria. Out of their jurisdiction so I was out of luck.
Got call from 268-762-0034 just before midnight last night - woke me from a very sound sleep. It was on the second ring, then stopped just as I almost had it.
I’ve received a couple of calls from these foreign countries that share our +1 country code - Congress should force them out if the phone companies aren’t willing to police this cr*p. Let them share a country code with Cuba.
This is why I keep my cell # and work # private, and I still get a few on my cell.
My home # has been taken over by these.
To get sale items here in many stores they demand your phone #, in fact radio shack gave me a free set of $12 earbuds for my home phone #.
Fortunately I love my phone/answering machine system /built-in speakerphone wireless set. Makes it easy to screen calls(most of time I don't pick it up then just delete messages).
And as I said, my caller ID comes on on my TV sets too.
hmmm...my call was from 268-762-0035
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