leichter@lrw.com (03/14/91)
The latest in phone scams occurred this week in New York. Employees of a large company with pagers received phone inquiries from 540 numbers, which are billed the same as 900 numbers. When the number is called, the customer is automatically charged $55.00. Employees from other companies around New York have also been hit by this scam. Although the company's phone switches are protected from making outgoing calls on 900 and 540 numbers, the employees may use phones at customer sites in response to a page. The New York office has alerted employees to this scam. We can expect similar activities in other areas in the future. Above provided F.Y.I. Regards, Jerry
smk@attunix.att.com (S M Krieger) (03/16/91)
> The latest in phone scams occurred this week in New York. Employees > of a large company with pagers received phone inquiries from 540 > numbers, which are billed the same as 900 numbers. When the number is > called, the customer is automatically charged $55.00. Employees from > other companies around New York have also been hit by this scam. This is another example of needing a college education, and then some, to use a telephone nowadays. Things were really easy when the cost of a call was based on only time of day, time of the call, and mileage. Anyway, what makes this more confusing (I have seen the ads for 540 numbers, since most of the TV stations serving 201/908 land are in NY City) is that they appear to be a NY Telephone invention. In 201, 540 is a central office code assigned to Morristown, NJ (about 30 air miles west of NY), so how is someone in 212, 516, 718, or 914 supposed to know that a seven-digit number, that in some places in this country is a "normal" phone number, is going to be a high priced call instead of just a few message units? Stan Krieger All opinions, advice, or suggestions, AT&T Unix System Laboratories even if related to my employment, are Summit, NJ are my own and do not represent any att!attunix!smk public or private policies of my employer.
Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@brl.mil> (03/21/91)
The ads (obviously reaching NJ and not just NY) for 540-xxxx numbers include a note listing areas 212, 718, 516, 914 and stating that the service is not available in New Jersey. (Yes, I already know of 201-540 in Morristown, and that some people might forget the special meaning of 540-xxxx in those NY areas.) Has anyone on 201-540 gotten calls intended for 540 exchange in NY?