Phone scam-OFF TOPIC

[Avery Todd]

Hi Lance & list,

   I thought this one had been on this list recently, but maybe I'm
thinking of something else. Anyway, from a 'Tourbus" post, below is the
original and the scoop on this 'almost' hoax. It's kind of funny how the
legend has evolved.

Avery

>Dear list,
>Thought I'd forward this as an off-topic help.  Hope you don't mind!

>>"I received a telephone call from an individual identifying himself as an
>>AT&T Service Technician that was running a test on our telephone lines.
>>He stated that to complete the test we should touch nine (9), zero (0),
>>pound sign (#) and hang up.
>>Luckily, we were suspicious and refused.  Upon contacting the telephone
>>company we were informed that by pushing 90# you end up giving the
>>individual that called you access to your telephone line and allows them
>>to place a long distance telephone call, with the charge appearing on
>>your telephone bill.  We were further informed that this scam is
>>origination from many of the local jails/prisons.  I have verified with
>>UCB Telecomm that this actually happens.  Please beware.  This sounds
>>like an Urban Legend.  IT IS NOT !!!  I called GTE Security this morning
>>and verified that this is definitely possible and DO NOT press 90# for
>>ANYONE. It will give them access to your pone line to make long distance
>>calls ANYWHERE !!! The GTE Security department told me to go ahead and
>>share this information with EVERYONE I KNOW !!!!"

========================================================================
-------------------------------
THE NINETY POUND TELEPHONE SCAM
-------------------------------

According to our next urban legend

     On Saturday, 24 January 1998, Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve
     Base, New Orleans' Quarterdeck received a telephone call from an
     individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service Technician that
     was running a test on our telephone lines.  He stated that to
     complete the test the QMOW should touch nine (9), zero (0), pound
     sign (#) and hang up.  Luckily, the QMOW was suspicious and
     refused.  Upon contacting the telephone company we were informed
     that by using 90# you end up giving the individual that called
     you access to your telephone line and allows them to place a long
     distance telephone call, with the charge appearing on your
     telephone [bill].  We were further informed that this scam has
     been originating from many of the local jails/prisons.  Please
     'pass the word.'"

Well, your fearless bus driver spent most of Tuesday on the phone with
folks from both Force 3 (the company that originally reported this
story) and AT&T (the long distance telephone company whose logo looks
an awful lot like Darth Vader's Death Star).  As shocking as this may
sound, the "nine-zero-pound" story is true ... sort of.

What the warning letter floating around the Net doesn't say is that
this scam only works on telephones where you have to dial 9 to get an
outside line.  Unless you have to dial 9 to get an outside line at
home, this scam does not affect residential telephone users.  Dialing
"nine-zero-pound" on a residential phone will only give you a busy
signal.  That's it.

On some business phones, however, dialing "nine-zero-pound" may
transfer a call to an outside operator and give the caller the
opportunity to call anywhere in the world and charge it to your
business' phone bill ... maybe.  It all depends on how your business'
telephone system is set up.  If your company doesn't require you to
dial 9 to get an outside line (for example, if you have a direct
outside telephone line on your desk or if your company's phone system
requires you to dial a number other than 9 to get an outside line) the
"nine-zero-pound" scam does not affect you.  Also, if your company's
phone system is set up so that you cannot make a long distance call
once you have accessed an outside line (a lot of companies now limit
all outside lines to local calls only), the "nine-zero-pound" scam
does not affect you either.

The "nine-zero-pound" story only affects those businesses that require
you to dial 9 to get an outside line and then place no restrictions on
who or where you can call once you get that outside line.  And, just
to be anal-retentive, let me say one more time that, unless you have
to dial 9 to get an outside line at home, this scam does _not_ affect
residential telephone users.  [It also probably doesn't affect non-US
telephone users.  This is especially true for British telephone users
whose telephone system is so complex that NO ONE in the UK knows how
to use BT's phones (although I am sure that BT users are currently
dealing with some sort of "dial q-seven-pi-cromwell-eleventeen-tomato"
scam)].