Call forwarding scam active in area

By Brad Kellar
Journal Staff

April 25, 2008 01:35 pm

— Scammers are again active in Hunt County, this time posing as police officers in a scheme which can result in people losing control of their home phones.
The Commerce Police Department issued an alert Monday, warning of the call forwarding scam, where suspects make calls telling the resident that a family member has been involved in an accident and asking the resident return a call to a Department of Public Safety Trooper or Police Sergeant.
The number the scammers give to the residents begins with “*72”, which, when dialed, allows the suspect to utilize the victim’s phone number to make calls and charge the calls to the number.
This ruse, called the "Jailhouse *72 Phone Scam", has been around for several years, but is just now starting to surface in the Commerce area.
The Caller ID of the phone number being used now shows to be a prison in Chicago, according to the release from the Commerce Police Department, although the caller is using the Houston area as the origin of the calls.
The Commerce Police Department is urging residents NOT to use “*72” unless they are fully aware of who they are talking to and wish for their phone to be forwarded to another number.
“We have been in contact with the Texas Attorney General's Office, Criminal Investigation Division,” said Police Chief Kerry Crews. “They tell us that this scam has been around for a while, but what's occurring in Commerce is a new twist to this scam.”
In a warning issued during November 2004, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott reported the scam was active in the Dallas area. Abbott said the victim’s teenage son took a call that seemed to be a wrong number. The caller implored the boy not to hang up, and proceeded to tell a hard-luck story about being detained by police and urgently needing to get a call through to his family. Abbott said the caller persuaded the boy to dial *72, leading to the family's phone has being tied up with a steady stream of calls by inmates of the local jail to their friends and associates, and the inmates' calls being charged to the family's phone number.
Anyone wanting additional information can contact the Commerce Police Department at 903-886-1139.