DO NOT PASS THIS HOAX ON!
Re: 90# on your telephone.
I dialed '0' and asked the operator to confirm if this was correct, so please pass it on.
I received a telephone call last evening from an individual identifying himself as a Telus Serviceman, who was conducting a test on the telephone-lines. He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine (9) and then zero (0), followed by the pound sign (#), and then to hang up.
Luckily, I was suspicious, and I refused.
Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you are giving the requesting individual full access to your telephone line, which enables them to place long distance calls billed to your home phone number.
I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many of B.C.Alta.Ont.NB. local jails and prisons.
DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE !
The GTE Security Department requested that I share this information with EVERYONE I KNOW.
After checking with Telus, they said it was true, so do not dial 90# for anyone!
PLEASE HIT THAT FORWARD BUTTON AND PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
Vivian Thompson,
Crime & Fraud Prevention Coordinator,
District 5
South Surrey RCMP,
British Columbia ..
Worry not Plume,
This is a hoax. Computer programmer Jonathan de Boyne Pollard's website explains:
QuoteThe original scam warned about in the original message only applies in the United States, and only to organisations with particular types of PABX that have been configured in a particular way. The essence of the original scam was the ability of these PABXes to connect two outside lines together, using call forwarding. This is why the Recall button is involved. The sequence R90# places the original call on hold (R), makes a new call to an outside line (9), dials the operator (0), and then connects the original call to the new call (#). The PABX thus needs to have been configured to allow an outside call to be forwarded to an outside line, which most PABXes do not allow, for obvious reasons.
There are a lot of these hoaxes out there - always double-check these types of spam/scam emails somewhere like:
www.hoax-slayer.com
I feel sorry for the police officer whose name is attached to this hoax - it's probably a real officer's name, and they likely get swamped with stupid phone calls about this, wasting their precious time, and our tax dollars to boot. I have no idea why people perpetrate these "scare" hoaxes - there are enough real-life scary things to worry about - like earthquakes!
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
Good Afternoon Dan
My apoligies if i boo booed, i will definetly try to double check.
Thank you for the warning, and having caught this in time.
Have a Great Day Dan
Sorry
Plume
Hi Plume
I edited the title and start of your posting to indicate that it is a hoax. Still worth leaving here as a warning that hoaxes are in circulation all the time - this is a very old one.
An excellent resource for checking any kind of "email warning" or other possible scam is:
http://www.snopes.com/
If you look at http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall.asp you will see that the #90 hoax was first reported in 1998.
Good Evening
I thank you for being polite about my stupidity
I think i will go back to being just myself again.
And keep some of these comments to someone much smarter than i.
Thank you again
Have a very good night
Plume
Everyone makes mistakes, Plume. The world of computers is complicated enough; the World Wide Web is full of good and bad people, just like the "real" world.
It's better to ask and learn than to remain unaware.