Scammers Lurk Behind Area Code 876
Your phone rings and caller ID shows an 876 area code. While it appears the call is coming from the US, be cautious with this Jamaican area code. If you do not have friends, relatives, or business associates in Jamaica, there is probably a scammer on the other end of line.
Approximately 30,000 calls are made from Jamaica into the United States – each day – attempting to defraud American citizens.
The specific scam works as follows:
Victims receive a call from an 876 area code, which is often mistaken for a toll-free number.
Victims are congratulated for winning the Jamaican lottery or a new car and then are directed to send a fee of up to $4,000 to process the lottery winnings.
Victims are told that once the fee is received, money will be wired to their bank account and the car will be delivered to their home.
Many times the caller will tell the victim that a representative of the lottery is in the area and as soon as the process fee is received, someone will deliver a check to their home. Scammers often use Google Earth to identify local landmarks and make the scam more believable.
A key to the scammer’s success is convincing victims to promise not to tell their family members and to make it a big surprise. If the scammers feel they have a potential victim, the calls will increase in frequency, resulting in hundreds of calls.
The money is requested through a wire from Western Union, Green Dot Card or in a creative way such as putting $100 bills in each page of a magazine.
“Stay safe by remembering a few simple tips on preventing phone scams,” said AARP New Hampshire lead fraud fighter Harold Moldoff. “Don’t pay any money to collect supposed sweepstakes winnings. Never wire money to anyone with whom you are not familiar. Don’t provide anyone with personal information such as bank account, pin numbers, or Social Security numbers. And contact your local authorities to report a phone scam.”
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Wednesday, December 5th 2012 at 7:43PM
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