Warning if you have Voice Mail - Scam Runs Phone Bill Up To $8,600

[wovenwonder]

Scam Runs Phone Bill Up To $8,600
Single 35-Hour Call From Saudi Arabia Ran Up Costs

POSTED: 5:22 p.m. EST March 10, 2003

LANCASTER, Pa. -- A phone scam ran up several thousand dollars on the phone bill of a small Lancaster County business.

The bill from AT&T is for a single call. The 35-hour collect-phone call was placed from Saudi Arabia through Steve Lueders' business line. The Lueders own Coleman's Ice Cream, a small operation just outside of Lancaster.

"We didn't think anything could happen to a little ice cream store like us until we get this big bill that was $8,600," Diane Lueders said.


Apparently, somone changed the voice mailbox on the Lueders' business phone. Once the scammer has changed the voice mail message, he or she called an operator and asked them to charge the phone call to his or her home phone. When the operator calls to verify the charges, the phone is answered by what seems like a real live person, but it's actually the recorded phone message.

The message is set to say, "Hello." Then the voice pauses while the operator asks if they will accept a collect call. The recording then says, "Yes operator, I will accept a collect call."

When you get a voice mailbox through your phone company, the default password is the last four digits of your phone number.

If you don't change the password, which the Lueders didn't do, it's easy for someone to hack into the voice mail and place calls without being detected.

"No one was here at the time the phone calls were made. It was early in the morning, about 6 a.m. on the one call alone." Andrew Lueders said.

The Lueders' case is being investigated by seven state agencies.

"I'm not paying a thing for it, not a thing," Diane Lueders said.

If you have a voice mail through your phone company, make sure you change the default password, and call yourself once a week to make sure the message hasn't been changed.

 

[olena]

Thanks for the warning. That's awful....