Posted on 02/08/2014 7:23:43 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
This scam is being reported by Tech Crunch and we wanted to make our readers aware of it.
The scam, simplified: They call you, but immediately hang up. You see a missed call. You call back. They charge you for the call, and for each minute they can keep you on the line.
According to the BBB, this so-called “One Ring” scam is on the rise.
Like many a ruse, this one relies on hitting many, many potential targets at once. The scammer sets up a computer to call thousands of numbers per hour — because for every 99 people who follow their gut and don’t call weird numbers, there’s 1 person who will. Maybe they’re waiting for response on a job interview, and don’t know what number it’ll come from. Maybe they’re hoping it’s that girl from the bar last night. Maybe the number just looks kind of familiar. It’s all about making mass sweeps and finding the exceptions.
The trick? They only let the call ring once before it automatically hangs up. One ring is enough for the number to show up on your missed call screen, but just short enough that you’re not likely to answer it in time (which keeps the call from fully connecting and thus keeps the scammer from having to front for any long distance fees.)
Speaking of long distance fees: the number it’s dialing from is, generally, one from outside of the US — but one that has the same country code (+1, which we share with Canada and almost all of the Caribbean nations, from the Bahamas to Jamaica), and thus looks a whole lotlike a US number. On US premium numbers, the FTC requires the caller to explicitly agree to charges. On international numbers, the FTC has no jurisdiction.
We’ve seen tricks like this before, using many of the same basic concepts —the sneaky international number, the hook to get you to call it back. A few years ago, a common scam technique was to text someone saying “Your [relative here] is hurt, and you are the emergency contact! Call [sneaky international number here] for more information.”
But this is the first time I’ve seen them boil it down to a simple missed call. It plays on the ubiquity of smartphones, and that… no one really calls each other anymore. If someone is calling, it’s probably important, right? Better call’em back!
While reports on scams like this tend to warn you that you’ll be charged a zillion dollars per second, that’s… usually not the case, in reality. Carriers will often void the charges if they/you catch them, so the scammer’s goal is often to keep anyone from noticing the charge. They’ll charge you a few bucks to establish the call, then a few bucks for each minute they keep you on hold/on the line.
To read more about this scam, head over to techcrunch for the details.
I’ve gotten 4 in the past week....
Are codes
407
268 (twice)
207
LOL!!
Or from the non-existent 200 area code. The other day I got one from Antigua/Barbados (268 area code) and one from the 200 area code, which is not assigned to anything. (Neat trick that latter one.) Ignored both, other than looking up where the area code was.
Area code 473 may appear to be domestic, BUT 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.
Also ignore calls from area codes 809, 284, 649 and 876, which like 473 are ALSO international.
PLEASE SEE THIS ARTICLE FOR A COMPLETE LIST. It has to be excerpted, so I've used my own words.
>I don’t understand this. If the scammers get you to call back, then your own phone company will bill you, so where do the scammers make money from it? <
It's called "3rd Party Billing" and it will show up on your phone bill.
I noticed my Verizon bill was a little higher than normal one month and when I checked it, I was being billed $20 for some trivia text service that my foreign wife (who's not really up to date on how various phone scams work) accidentally signed up for by replying to a text she received. She's also notorious for calling back missed calls. I had to warm her about this one so she'll stop doing it. Fortunately, we haven't been hit by this scam.
After my little text scam, we had Verizon block all 3rd Party Billing. They'll only do this if you ask them to. I don't know if it applies to calling back missed calls though.
I understand the sentiment. People you DO know can be a pain in the @$$, too!
Presumably, Verizon will pay the scammer with some of the proceeds from your bill payment.
I still don't get it. If you call me from Upchuckistan and I miss the call. I call you back. My carrier charges me the cost of the foreign call. They don't send you money for that call.
Where is the third party billing and who is it? There has to be some agreement with whoever this mysterious third party is and my carrier to charge me and send the proceeds to whoever originated the call.
You call Upshukistan, you pay long distance rates. You call "Hot Upchukistan girls want to meet you for only $19.95 + $1.99/minute!!!" you pay not only the long distance fees but the service charges as well.
Of course, Verizan gets a little bit for providing the billing service. That's why 3rd party billing is by default turned on.
Yeah, Obama gets the bill.
Oh wait, WE get the bill.
Nevermind.
That’s the way the phones were designed. It’s ingenious really. They record the call. They take the message. The phone owner is never at risk. (Although I think you can get charged a bundle if someone leaves you a message when you’re out of the country with your phone turned on.) I much prefer it to the old land lines, especially before there were answering machines and the like.
A friend was visiting from Australia years ago and I called the number where he was staying. He didn’t pick up, because it wasn’t his phone or his apartment. I sort of knew that, so I said into the answering machine: “Andrew, are you there? Pick up if you’re there.” He picked up and said, “How did you get your voice to come right into the room like that?”
How quickly we take everything for granted.
Ah, so. I get it now. Thanks!!
If I don’t know the number I don’t answer. If they don’t leave a message I don’t call back. If there is a message, I still won’t call back unless I want to.
This works with people? One ring wouldn’t even get me to look at the phone much less go dialing numbers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.