Dear Colleagues,
This, FYI, came across my "desk" today:
Subject: FW: Telecommunications Fraud <fwd>
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 08:44:32 -0400 ()
>
> FYI, enclosed below is a copy of an email message that came in on a mailing
> list where telephone topics are discussed. You may want to warn the people in
> your department to think about possibilities like this before simply returning
> calls.
>
>
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>
>
> University Information Services relayed the following message to the HMS
> Telecommunications Office regarding the latest in a series of fraudulent
> activities related to telephone solicitations:
>
> If you receive messages on your voice mail (or pager) asking you to
> return an urgent call to a toll free number starting with 800, don't do
> it.
>
> A group of computer hacks have set up a whole series of exchanges in
> the 800 area code (the Caribbean Islands, outside US law) and created
> pass-throughs to 900 numbers in New York. They set up automatic voice
> message systems to dial thousands of exchanges around the US leaving an
> "urgent" message to call back.
>
> When you call the 800 number, it forwards automatically to a 900 number,
> and you get a message saying to call back later. This 30 second message costs
> between $25 and $50!!
>
> On September 30 the Burlington, MA area was targeted (Raytheon, Baybank,
> etc), and many employees unwittingly returned the calls. There was a brief
> piece on CNN about the scam as well.
>
> Once the call is placed there is no way to recover the cost, so please
> refrain from calling any 800 number if you receive an unsolicited request to do
> so.
>
>
>
>
-- jack
* * * * * * * *
Jack Robertson
ARLIS/NA President
Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
University of Virginia
(804) 924-6601
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