Jobseeker stung by 'brazen' phone scam

[snopes]

A jobseeker hunting the classifieds got socked with an unwelcome - and pricey - $138 charge when she called a Boston-area company for work.

Now a phone company has reported a "brazen scam" to state investigators.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/ho...32775848837119

[SirKnight]

Grrr freaking stupid scammers. We ought to take the lot of em and throw 'em into the sea with very large rocks chained to their ankles.

[Pseudo_Croat]

Sounds like a version of this little flimflam. Grrrr....

- Pseudo "call of the scam" Croat

[Richard W]

Wow, it surprises me that the phone companies in the US let anybody charge $69 instantaneously for a call to a certain number. In the UK, the charges are per-minute and capped at £1.50, according to wikipedia. You can still get stung if you accidentally dial out of the UK.

[WonkoTheSane]

I grew up knowing that a 976 "area code" meant that the call carried charges, so that would have been a huge red flag to me, although apparently not for everyone. Scummy way to act. It seems that they ought to be able to follow the money and nab the dirtbags.

Wonko

[Four Kitties]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Wow, it surprises me that the phone companies in the US let anybody charge $69 instantaneously for a call to a certain number. In the UK, the charges are per-minute and capped at £1.50, according to wikipedia. You can still get stung if you accidentally dial out of the UK.

As is stated in the article, the charges were in explicit violation of the phone company's policy:

Bonomo said Verizon requires companies which charge customers more than $1 per call or companies which collect charges that total more than $1 to state how much their services will cost at the beginning of the customer's call.

Customers must also have the opportunity to hang up the phone before incurring any charges, he said.

Bonomo said Verizon generally drops charges levied by a third party if a customer notifies the telephone company. On Thursday, according to Draper, her client received a call from Verizon notifying her that the $138 would be taken off of her bill.

Four Kitties

Originally Posted by Four Kitties

As is stated in the article, the charges were in explicit violation of the phone company's policy:

The caller was notified of the charges up front, just at a ridiculously low volume:

Draper said the woman turned up the volume on her phone and called the 976 number again. This time, she heard a message stating that callers must hang up to avoid incurring a $69 charge.
Though the woman hung up immediately, Draper said her client's Verizon phone bill included two charges totaling about $138.

The part that is in question is how much time the caller had to hang up pre-charge and how much time the caller ACTUALLY took to hang up. Obviously the first time around she did not hang up right away. Really, only the second $69 charge could be in dispute with the phone company's policy. The article does not say that the caller must be informed of the time frame to hang up before they are charged. Without having direct record of 1) the second call's length or 2) the minimum amount of time a caller is supposed to have to hang up before charges start, I doubt we can truly call this an "explicit violation."

[Azzizi]

I had a friend who got tired of all the telemarketers calling him on his home phone, so he (supposedly) got a 900 number installed. He was fairly eccentric, so his story didn't sound that odd, but I never verified it. Anyway, as he told the story, he got this 900 number to replace his home phone number. He also said he had a special code so he could allow family and friends to call without being charged the fee. He said it really helped cut down on the number of calls he got, but he would still sometimes get telemarketing calls, which he would gladly answer because they were making him money. He said he almost felt bad when the alumni association from his alma mater called him to ask for donations, but he still talked to the caller for half an hour before refusing to send a donation.