The Los Angeles County Sheriffs have put out an advisory that the *72 phone scam seems to be coming back.
It works like this: the victim receives a call from an imposter claiming to be a deputy. The “deputy” tells the victim that a family member has been involved in an accident or is in jail, and the victimi was listed as the contact. The victim is then told that they can get the information they need by dialing a number that begins with *72 (star-72), for example, *72-626-XXX-XXXX.
When the victim hangs up and calls the number provided, the person on the other end tells them that they have a wrong number and hangs up.
What has just happened? By dialing *72 plus the number, the victim has instructed the phone system to forward all calls going to the victim’s number to the *72 number instead. So all calls that go to the victim’s house go to the forwarded number instead — but the victim gets to pay for them. According to a press release from the sheriff’s department, these can include collect calls from inmates who want to avoid paying for collect calls. This will continue until the victim dials *73 to stop it.
If you feel like you’ve been victimized by such a scam, call your phone company. The California Public Utilities Commission also has a press release on the subject, after the jump.
by TImothy Rutt
It works like this: the victim receives a call from an imposter claiming to be a deputy. The “deputy” tells the victim that a family member has been involved in an accident or is in jail, and the victimi was listed as the contact. The victim is then told that they can get the information they need by dialing a number that begins with *72 (star-72), for example, *72-626-XXX-XXXX.
When the victim hangs up and calls the number provided, the person on the other end tells them that they have a wrong number and hangs up.
What has just happened? By dialing *72 plus the number, the victim has instructed the phone system to forward all calls going to the victim’s number to the *72 number instead. So all calls that go to the victim’s house go to the forwarded number instead — but the victim gets to pay for them. According to a press release from the sheriff’s department, these can include collect calls from inmates who want to avoid paying for collect calls. This will continue until the victim dials *73 to stop it.
If you feel like you’ve been victimized by such a scam, call your phone company. The California Public Utilities Commission also has a press release on the subject, after the jump.