ALERT - Area code 809 Phone scam

[Helen]

Please be advised that there is a widespread telecommunications scam occurring in North America. People are asked to call a number in the 809 area code, British Virgin Islands including Bahamas, to claim a prize or assist in the medical needs of a relative vacationing in the area. These messages are being sent via voicemail, email and pagers. When the 809 number is called, you may unknowingly be dialing a pay-per-call number and charges are up to $25 U.S. per minute.
The 809 area code can be dialed without a country code so appears to be a continental North American number. Since 809 is not regulated by the CRTC in Canada or the FTTC in U.S.A., they are not governed by any of the rules and regulations set up to safeguard customers such as advising you of the cost per minute or giving you an option to hang up within a given timeframe to avoid charges. Your long distance provider will not refund the charges as they are simply acting as payment collector for a foreign company.
Please note that not all numbers in the 809 area are perpetrating telecommunications fraud so use judgement if you are asked to call a number that you don't recognize.

 

[Sarah]

You can always call your long distance operator with area code and prefix (first three digits of the seven digit phone number) to learn city, state and country of any phone number free of charge, prior to making a long distance call.