We at All American Bail Bonds have recently come across a telephone scam being used by inmates located in the Los Angeles County Jail Facilities. The telephone scam came to our attention when one of the inmates attempted to use the scam on us at our Long Beach office, the scam goes like this.
You get a call from an inmate posing to be a trustee whose responsibility is to notify families members of an emergency issue with someone they know in custody. The inmate tells the victim caller that they are not privy to the details of the inmates situation and that they must call another number for a sheriffs deputy to get the details.
Well the number they provide starts with the prefix of *72 and than a seven digit number (Example *72-310-555-1212), now for those who don’t know, when you use *72 before a phone number your forwarding your line to the callers line who answers to accept the forwarding.
After the line has been forwarded the inmate can call the forwarded number collect and their partner in crime gets the calls, of course the forwarded number receives the bill for all of those collect calls.
F.Y.I., If you forward your number to another line than you can unforward the line by dialing *73.
If you find yourself a victim of this scam than you should immediately notify your phone carrier to see if they can possible reverse the charges.
Also we have been notified that the Los Angeles County Sheriff is aware of the scam and they have been alerting the public.
The California Public Utilities Commission has also been made aware of the phone scam and if you have any further questions you can contact them at 800-649-7570.
You can also get more information by visiting the following websites
ftp://ftp.cpuc.ca.gov/cei/advisories/72%20Scam%20final.pdf
http://www.calphoneinfo.com/
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/Telco/Consumer+Information/081022_72advisory.htm
You get a call from an inmate posing to be a trustee whose responsibility is to notify families members of an emergency issue with someone they know in custody. The inmate tells the victim caller that they are not privy to the details of the inmates situation and that they must call another number for a sheriffs deputy to get the details.
Well the number they provide starts with the prefix of *72 and than a seven digit number (Example *72-310-555-1212), now for those who don’t know, when you use *72 before a phone number your forwarding your line to the callers line who answers to accept the forwarding.
After the line has been forwarded the inmate can call the forwarded number collect and their partner in crime gets the calls, of course the forwarded number receives the bill for all of those collect calls.
F.Y.I., If you forward your number to another line than you can unforward the line by dialing *73.
If you find yourself a victim of this scam than you should immediately notify your phone carrier to see if they can possible reverse the charges.
Also we have been notified that the Los Angeles County Sheriff is aware of the scam and they have been alerting the public.
The California Public Utilities Commission has also been made aware of the phone scam and if you have any further questions you can contact them at 800-649-7570.
You can also get more information by visiting the following websites
ftp://ftp.cpuc.ca.gov/cei/advisories/72%20Scam%20final.pdf
http://www.calphoneinfo.com/
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/Telco/Consumer+Information/081022_72advisory.htm
