Hi CD Members,

Here below I am reproducing the mail I did receive. This is for the interest of CD members.

Subject: Phone Scam

Make sure you tell everyone in your area that has a telephone about this.

BELL CANADA ALERT --

I got a call last night from an individual identifying himself as a BELL CANADA Service technician who was conducting a test on our telephone lines. He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine (9), zero (0) & the pound sign (#) and then hang up.
Luckily, I was suspicious and refused. Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you give the individual full access to your telephone line, which allows them to place long distance telephone calls and bills it to your phone number. I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many of the local jails/prisons. So, DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE!

PLEASE pass this on to everyone you know. If you have a mailing lists and/or newsletters from organizations you are connected with, I encourage you to pass this on.

Originated by Peel Regional Police P.C. Stephen Coppin
No. 42 Division WEBMASTER
Toronto Police Service 242 Milner Ave. M1S 5C4
416-808-4234
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Live and Let Live. Together we can make a difference.

DP JAIN, CPA, CGA, CPA (US), CA(I), LL.B.(I)
416-305-0080
(Loans, Mortgage, Tax, Accounting, Investments)

The 90# Telephone Scam
Netlore Archive

By Patrick Crispen (reprinted, by permission, from The Internet TourBus, February 12, 1998)

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)].

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Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.

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Orginally posted by dp_jain

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Originated by Peel Regional Police P.C. Stephen Coppin
No. 42 Division WEBMASTER
Toronto Police Service 242 Milner Ave. M1S 5C4
416-808-4234
> >

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