Subject: Fw: Fwd: FW: CAREFUL PLEASE

In a message dated 1/29/2003 7:46:06 PM Pacific Standard Time, TwoTomKatz writes:

CHECK THIS!!!!!!

I received a telephone call last evening from an individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service technician who was conducting a test on telephone

lines. He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine(9), zero(0), the pound sign (#), and then hang up. Luckily, I was suspicious and refused.

Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you give 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 local jails/prisons. I have also verified this information with UCB Telecom,Pacific Bell, MCI, Bell Atlantic and GTE. Please beware.

DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE.

The GTE Security Department requested that I share this
information with EVERYONE I KNOW.

PLEASE pass this on to everyone YOU know.

I just want to clarify one thing. Having first hand knowledge of how the prison phone system works, it is impossible for these phone calls to originate from within any prison. Phone calls from prisons must come through as collect calls from within the prison, are identified as calls from a prison institution and you have to accept, reject or block all calls from the institution for the prisoner to even get through to you. Please do not spread false information. Prisoners are human beings and in many cases, their crimes are no more serious than yours or your neighbors. They get 50 years to life for stealing $153. worth of video tapes from K-Mart, 25 to life for stealing a bicycle out of a garage, 25 to life for posession of a small amount of drugs. Yet, many cheat on their income taxes, don't tell the cashier they gave them back too much change, drive while intoxicated and other so called "no big deal" crimes. Please correct the information you are spreading, by forwarding this response to those who sent you this e-mail, as well as those who you have forwarded it to.

Hebrews 13
3 Remember those who are in prison as if you were their fellow prisoner, and those who are ill-treated, since you also are liable to bodily sufferings.

If you look into the Word of God, you will find that most of the Bible was written from within prison walls and most of the Godly men who served Jesus spent an incredible amount of time in chains and imprisoned. Don't jump to the conclusion that what you read about is true without full knowledge of the facts.

Thank you and God bless!

Thank you for your post Bonnie.Really good info.!

OH my gawd! Is this thing STILL going around???

Ok...take it from me...I have gotten more calls about this email than I can remember...it is TOTALLY fake...people who press #90 will hear a message (if it's still active) that says "You have reached this message in error, please hang up and try your call again"

And please, if you get something about calling jamaica and it's connected to any area code and you'll be charged 5 bajillion dollars a minute...FAKE...fake fake fake....don't bother your local phone company with it...

If you get an email that says that an employee from a local phone company is randomly placing calls advising you that your local service is subject to a charge called the "biased actions fee" which they say is a charge in place by the long distance carrier to ensure you're service is not switched to another carrier, it's pretty safe to just hang up while laughing at them. USUALLY this is a way to slam or cram a customer. Slamming - your long distance and or local toll service is changed without your consent
Cramming - a charge appears on your phone bill for a service (such as pagers you didn't purchase, a stand alone voice mail that you didn't purchase) you did not purchase.

If the latter case occurs, you can get that corrected with a 10 minute call to your local phone provider...

I laugh every time I get one of those emails and I LOVE responding to them saying things like "oh my gosh! You mean, my phone is going to electrocute me and I've just made the man outside with the big wrench on the pole fall off because I pressed a button? Oh no!" just because it makes me laugh and it makes the realize "whoops..."

Any email I receive about anything I try to verify. Here's a good site:

http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

It's all about the email chains and hoaxes out there. :) Sometimes I just like to read what's going around.

Thanks for the info. Bonnie. I had not heard of this scam, but it's good to get this information out there!

Pammie

wow! I heard that about a year ago. I just thought it was junk e-mail that gets passed around. Thank you for the heads up. Also if you have kids that answer the phone make them aware of this.

This is the first I've heard about this.... thanks for the warning.

Jodygirl