90# Telephone Scam, Really?

Yes, there really is a 90# telephone scam. Basically someone calls you at work and claims to be with the telephone company, testing the line. They ask you to either dial 9-0-# or transfer them to an outside line and hang up. Once you do this, the scammer can now make fraudulent calls which will be billed to your phone number. To make matters worst people are circulating false information about this scam, saying it affects both cell and home phone numbers. Of course they are saying they checked it out with phone companies, friends of friends, the Internet sources and of course Good Morning America. When you hear people say stuff like that and you haven’t heard about it, it’s probably not true. Personally I was 98.999% certain this was not true but with a little checking I found lots of proof to confirm my feeling.

How did I know?

At work most of us can probably transfer people to an outside line, but how do you do that from your cell phone or home phone? Call yourself and try it if you want..

A very quick Google search shows that snopes.com (one of the so-called confirming sources, says it’s a half truth and confirms it can only affect pbx type systems).

The email I got was warning us to not press 90# for anyone, just hang up if someone asks you to and that’s good advice. If they persist, contact the authorities and report them.

My feeling is always be suspicious of folks you don’t know asking you to do things and check these things out from reliable sources, for communications I go to the FCC for communications information..

The FCC warns us that:

1. Real Telephone employees won’t ask you to dial numbers or connect them to outside lines.

2. This scam only works on PBX or PABX phone systems

for more information you can get the scoop from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)

By the way, this scam is not new and many systems have protections in place to protect against it.