Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GPD Warns Of '809' Scam

A possible scam is floating around dealing with 809" area codes.

According to information from the Gurdon Police Department, this Internet phone scam first appears as an email with the subject line of "Alert" or "Unpaid Account."

This message is being spammed across the web telling those who receive it they have 24 hours to settle an outstanding account. Otherwise, the message states, the sender will commence legal proceedings without further delay.

"If you would like to discuss this matter to avoid court action," it states, "call Mike Murray at Global Communications at 1-809-496-2700."

Another version of this has a message being left on a person's answering machine or pager asking the person to call a number beginning with the 809 area code.

Reasons for the call vary, and include such claims as a family member being ill, arrested, died or stating you have won a prize.

In all cases the person getting the information is told to call the 809 number immediately, and many people have.

However, anyone making a call to the 809 area code from the continental United States will be charged $25 per minute.

According to the release, the person who answers at the other end will speak broken English and pretend not to understand the caller. At other times the caller will only get a recorded message.

The idea is to keep the caller on the line as long as possible and run up the charges.

The 809 area code is located in the Dominican Republic and can be used as a "pay-per-call" number, similar to the "900" numbers used in the US.

The 809 area code is not covered by the same regulations as the 900 numbers, which require a caller to be notified and warned of charges and rates involved when calling.

There is also no requirement for the company to provide a time period during which the caller may terminate the call without being charged.

While the 900 numbers in the US can be blocked, this blocking method does not work for the 809 numbers.

Officials urge anyone getting a call, fax, page or email involving an 809 area code not to call it, but to disregard the message.

For those who found out the hard way and tried to get the charges dropped, they have had problems.

First, the call was actually made, though the caller was tricked into making it.

Next, the local phone company and long-distance carrier will not want to get involved and will likely tell the caller they are dealing with a foreign company.

The foreign company will, in turn, argue it has done nothing wrong, leaving the caller stuck with a high phone bill.