this type of scam might be common knowledge and I personally would never do anything a stranger tells me to do over the phone from jail, but I got this email from a co-worker and thought I would pass it along ------- I got a call at 4am this morning from Harris County Jail and I accepted the call (1st mistake). Then the inmate asked for “Kathy” I said he had the wrong number. He begged me not to hang up that he was trying to reach his Mother and she worked at St. Joseph Hospital and couldn’t receive collect calls. I asked why he didn’t know his Mom’s home number and he said her home number was programmed into his cell phone and it was taken from him and it was a new listing they had just moved there. He said PLEASE call her for me the number is 832-……., but you must press *72 so that she’ll know it is an emergency. I’m sure most of you know that *72 will transfer all calls to this number he gave me, but I don’t transfer my home number so I didn’t realize that when I acted as a “good Samaritan” I’d be scammed for a long distance, conference call!!!! In fact not until I tried calling home this morning from my office did I realize what had happened to me. Luckily I called a friend and she said all I had to do was go home and press #73 to “un-transfer” my number (which I did). Then I called Sprint Phone Co. to report this problem and they said it was a very common practice for inmates at correction facilities to do so that they could get “free” long distance calls. When the bill comes in they will delete it from my charges and process it through their Fraud division. So beware, you’ve been warned. I feel foolish, but fortunate that my number is unlisted so this inmate cannot have access to my address too by reverse lookup. Sorry for the lengthy message, just didn’t want this to happen to you!
ok, im lost. . . an inmate calls you you hang up, dail *72 832... and the person you call gets to make calls on your bill??? can that be right? I just cant see why anyone would want to make another numbers bill end up on there own bill.
This used to happen to my wife's grandmother monthly, but she would always say no and hang up. Thanks for the heads up.
Thank goodness the words "good samaritan" have never been used to describe me. I would have hung up as soon as the caller said they were from Harris County Jail. If I know you and you're in jail, I don't want to know you anymore. (At least not until your name is cleared.) I'm mean like that, I know.
I remember receiving a call like this at my old girlfriend's place. I told him I'd call, but then didn't...and felt like an ass for a little while afterwards. Glad I didn't.
Suppose you are on a trip out of the country or out of state and you need you calls to come in. Many people forward their calls to their cells and other phone #'s Didnt know of the *72 tho. thx for the headds up
