If you receive a call from a representative or technician of a phone company asking you to pres 9, 0 and # then hangs up to complete the maintenance check of your phone – be warned! By doing this you are enabling that person to make long distance or international calls that will be charged to your phone number.

Telephone companies calling to check about technical and other types of phone service or billing problems will NOT call and ask a subscriber to dial a specific series of numbers before hanging up the phone receiver. These types of calls are made to trick subscribers into taking actions that will enable the caller to place fraudulent calls.

For business lines this scam works if you are served by a private branch exchange (PBX) or private automatic branch exchange (PABX). By doing this, it enables the person to make long distance calls that are billed to your office phone number.

What You Need to Know:

Telephone company employees calling to check about technical and other types of phone service or billing problems will NOT call and ask a subscriber to dial a specific series of numbers before hanging up the phone receiver. These types of calls are made to trick subscribers into taking actions that will enable the caller to place fraudulent calls.

This scam only works if your phone is served by a private branch exchange (PBX) or private automatic branch exchange (PABX).

If your company utilizes either a PBX or a PABX, you or your company’s telecommunications manager should contact the manufacturer of the PBX or PABX and the phone companies that provide you with local or long distance service to obtain information about the type of security systems available to protect your phone system from toll fraud.

Avoiding this scam:

1. Get the name and telephone number.
   
2. Inform the caller that you will personally call the phone company to verify the maintenance check or any problems with the line.
   
3. Hang up and do not dial any numbers to transfer the caller to an outside line.
   
4. Call your phone company and report the suspicious phone call and provide the details of the call.
   
5. Once verified that there is no maintenance check from your phone company, call your local law enforcement officials to report the incident.
   

If you are a victim of this scam please click here to file a complaint.

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