Possible Cell Phone Scam

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey...

Disclaimer: I have no idea where this thread should be placed, or how it will go... I've placed it here because it currently involves cell phones and only cell phones that I know about.

Story: Most of you know that I'm a student... or you do now anyways... So on Tuesday we're sitting in class and a guys cell phone rings... It's a 305 area code so he ignores it. Then on Wednesday another guys cell phone rings and it's the same area code 305 number. Then yesterday my phone rang (for the sake of this let's say my number is ABC-0805) and it was the same 305 number. Then my girlfriend came home from work last night and said she'd missed a call on her cell phone (ABC-0807) and it was the same number again.. Since mine and hers both have the same starting and were close together I'm wondering if it's some sort of auto dial. The number (since I don't mind sharing ones like this) is: 1-305-675-6263. We couldn't find anything on google, but maybe you've heard of something, or will have better luck than I have. We also tried calling the number and go a modem... and being the household of computer geeks that we are, we attempted to dial in from a terminal... We couldn't get it to accept the connection though.. I'm wondering if it's A) a fax machine or B) a computer dialing out with it's recorded message set to not accept incoming calls... The only reason I find it weird is it does pick up, rather than just ignoring the call.

I listened to the first 59 seconds of the message (I didn't wanna spend more than the cost of the first minute of an international call to a cell phone)... It's a recorded female voice saying that you've won a trip for you and your family to Flordia for 6 days... 3 days in Orlando and three days in some other city.. Then it talks about for the low cost of only $99 USD per person... I hung up after that... I'm looking forward to another opportunity because I'd like to hear the rest....

Anyways it just seems odd that four people in the same city with cell phones (that know each other) have recieved this call and it makes me wonder how many others have also had it and why.... It is some advertising scheme... or is it some phishing attempt where they take you for the 99/head and you never get anything?

Any ideas or feedback?

Peace,
HT

[zencoder]

War dialling for automated phone spam???

I know that here in the US, if you go sign up for the national Do Not Call lists, you can enter mobile and home numbers...I haven't stayed up with a lot of this stuff, but I think the differences between types of phone lines...pricate residence, business, mobile, etc....are blurring in regards to unsolicited calls.

[MrLinus]

I listened to the first 59 seconds of the message (I didn't wanna spend more than the cost of the first minute of an international call to a cell phone)... It's a recorded female voice saying that you've won a trip for you and your family to Flordia for 6 days... 3 days in Orlando and three days in some other city.. Then it talks about for the low cost of only $99 USD per person... I hung up after that... I'm looking forward to another opportunity because I'd like to hear the rest....

These things tend to be scams. Sounds like the old timeshare option. It also sounds like the device Homer used to annoy the people of Springfield with (episode 4F01 - Lisa's Date With Density) auto-dialer with recorded message. The links below might help.

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V115/N62/phone.62w.html
http://www.xzone-radio.com/ripoffs_scams/art3.htm
http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Telemarketing/Outbound/Minor/vacations.htm

While it may be interesting to listen to the rest, honestly, I'd think your time might be worth more than that (unless you want to record it and post to somewhere as a warning to others :D). This is old telephone spam/scam stuff. Most likely the device is just going through a series of phone numbers (like the dialer in Wargames).

[TMB333]

I just received a call from that number on my Cell and did a search on Google. (I tend not to answer unknown long distance numbers on my cell, so I didn't answer it.)

After searching, I was led to two links. One here, and the other (http://65.108.248.199/). It mentions that it's a Canadian phone scam, and by simply clicking on the number you're told to (i.e. 9), it somehow enables others to begin using your number for long distance calls to be charged to your bill.

I don't know how true or not this is, but I would immediately contact my phone company if I were you.

[XTC46]

Im out in hawaii and got a call from that number while I was in class the other day, no message left so I ignored it. strange.

[Sylvie]

My Boy friend and I have cell phone one number different (say 555-1001 and 555-1002) and we both received calls from that number today. As we were away from our phones we did not answer and no message was left. I was wondering what cell phone company that you are with and if you contacted them about this? We are on the phone with Rogers Wireless right now, but can't find a real person.

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

Northern Ontario.... That's where I'm originally from... Good ol' SSM....

Anyways... both calls (myself and my gf) were to telus phones... as for the others in my class... I'm not sure who their providers are..

I haven't spoken to my cell company, but that might be something to attempt..

Also the link that TMB333 posted, while interested, is wrong... This is an urban legend from many moons ago... check out http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/jailcall.asp for more information...

Peace,
HT

[Black Cluster]

I have been through the same situation. Actually, i think that the Teleco in my country is trying to push the policy of unsolicited SMSs to incentive people to call for a specific purpose.
I think this is a disgraceful BLACKMAILING . To add insult to injury, when i called the so-called Customer Services they denied having this problem.

Many of my friends complained that they recieved many SMSs from different sources, they even called and the bill was higher than the average, 50 cent for a second.

I thinks that the world is witnessing the introduction of a new approach of Spamming - Cell-Spamming.

[TMB333]

Yah, the URL that I had listed is now out of date (being that the site is a blog site), but the message seems to have been archived here (http://www.benedictionblogson.com/archives/2005_01.php), under a January 20, 2005 entry.

As I stated, I wasn't sure as to whether or not it was an issue to be concerned about, but after reading the SNOPES.COM entry, it would appear that this scam 'could' cause a problem on a business line or any other line that uses 9 to dial out. Again, as to how true this is, it's safer to be aware of the issue than not to be.

One other thought that comes to mind though is that for most cell phone plans, isn't the receiving cell phone carrier charged for a long distance connection even though they didn't initiate the call? So, if you respond to the call and listen to the message, aren't you being charged by your cell phone Company for that call? This is just a question, as I don't know how most cell phone plans are structured.

[eruti5]

I also got a call today from 305-675-6263. Didn't answer it, and no message left.

They called both my land-line and cell, about 10 mins apart. Oddly enough, my land-line is listed in my name, and the cell in my parents...two completetly different surnames, addresses, etc. I don't recall providing both numbers for a contest, or anything of that nature...so I'm quite curious as to how both of my numbers got onto their "list."

Anyone have any ideas?

E

[letsgetitover]

Hi I found your thread while searching '305-675-6263' apparently they call businesses as well as cell phones. They've called my office at least 6 times in the past 5 days and I've listened to the messages then spoke to a representitive... when I spoke to the lady the first time she was polite and I asked her to please take me off the call list she said she would. Then I recieved a secon call a few min later, I then realized that it was calling on one of our other 6 lines. So I pressed 9 and spoke to the same woman. I told her that I just spoke with her to have my number taken off the call list but before I could tell her that we have 6 different phone #'s she barked into the phone that it will take up to 24hr's to remove the number and then she hung up. And to top it off I received another call today... this one was the cherry on top! They called today, this time a male telemarketer answered (TM)'hello' (Me)'hi I'd like to have my number taken off the call list please' (TM)'I don't have time for this I'm too busy' (Me) "excuse me? what kind of business is this?' (TM) 'F*** Off, You're a Canadian, you have no F***ing rights" then he hung up.

Needless to say I'm pretty pissed off...

~Wade

[letsgetitover]

Just to add in, I spoke to my boss(I work at a law firm) regarding this telemarketing scam... anyone who is harrased by theese people should report this to their local police :) it'll help stop them :)

~Wade

[Sylvie]

well i feel that they are using an automatic dialer which just generates random numbers..but i think that it is odd that most of the calls are in canada....I was talking to a local police department and they said that they are calling canada b/c there is nothing that they can do due to jurisdictions and cross border stuff....but i will see if i can do something about this

[Sylvie]

o.k. for all the people that live in canada there is a number that u can call it is 1-888-495-8501 the name of the orginzations is Phonebusters and i received it from the Ontario Provincal Police their website is www.phonebusters.com but i didn't really find it at all helpful...

Phone busters is open Monday to Friday 8 am to 5:30 pm est please call so we can stop this S*&t

[letsgetitover]

Well guess who called me back today... I left a message for the company yesterday... the travel agency is call Sunshine Travel Resorts. Based out of Orlando. Phone Number 1-888-849-2551 >:)
~Wade

[greggadler]

Hey everyone, I just got a call from the number 305-675-6263 also. This is a Miami based phone number, and that is all I could find out until of course I read all these postings. I live in Canada as well, and we have 2 lines (one listed and one unlisted). The listed one got the call first and I saw the number and didn't answer it - no message left. The unlisted got the call 40 minutes later and I did answer it, and I heard the recorded message about the free trip. I didn't press 9 or 8 - I said "eat shit" and hung up. I wasn't sure if I would be charged if I pressed one of those numbers or not - or what the deal is. I reported this to the phone/internet scammers for Canada (http://www.phonebusters.com/).

I say we all join up and harass them. Everyone get phone cards to call FL. and when you have some time, just keep calling that number and **** with them. If I get the opportunity I will ram my fist through someone's stomach.

Regards everyone.

[Alex52]

Hi from SW Ontario.

This same number called my home line today as well, but left no message.
Given it looks like most of us are Canadian, who the **** does this one telemarket/scammer think he is, being so rude ("Oh, you're Canadian, you have no ****-ing rights"). :rolleyes: Wanker.

Odd how if this were a Canadian individual, it would be considered harassment, and charges would likely be laid in a case where multiple people are bothered. But this is an American company. I wonder if anything will come of any of us calling phonebusters.

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

This number seems to really be getting out of hand.... My suggestion to everyone would be reported... I'd call contact phonebusters but also the police (even if they can't do anything).... Either the OPP or RCMP (after all this is international harassment) and then I'd contact your Phone Service Provider... I'm sure if the Telco receives enough complaints that they have some sort of system in place that would give them the ability to prevent a number from contact any of their customers... a sort of global blacklist..

To give you an idea of where this is going from my end, I've had several friends who've had their home phones called... as well as co-workers who are receiving calls to their work numbers.

This seems to be getting very big and rather out of hand http://www.benedictionblogson.com/archives/001197.php is a blog that has had numerous posts regarding the number.

I'm actually going to contact my local press and see if that does anything..... Maybe public voice will be enough to get it to stop...

Peace
HT

[Paradax]

I just received a call from these guys last night as well. I used the 1-888 # from this forum to call them back, disguising my voice (Jamaican accent) and spoke with this guy named "Jeff". Of course I wasn't polite, but he wanted to one-up me by yelling obscenities. I called back demanding an apology and he was absolutely fuming. I called a couple of more times, since he conveniently mentioned that each time I call, he is charged for the 888 #.

So if your business or home is being harrassed by these individuals, just call and ask to speak with Jeff. Or anyone else, but I have a sweet spot for that ***hole. ;) They waste your time, you waste theirs, and their money.

And if things get out of hand, you can also call the Orlando police and report them. Info here:
http://www.cityoforlando.net/police/email.htm

If everyone who receives a call dials the 888 # and bothers them, it'll hopefully cost them a lot more money and give them less time to scam the public.

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

I sent an email to the newsdesk for my local newspaper... I haven't seen anything yet... but I'm watching, if anyone else is interested in keeping an eye on it, their website is http://www.lfpress.com.

I've also been contacted by another number... I didn't listen all the way through (I dislike long distance charges, but it seemed to start off the same way). This time the number was 214-279-0990... This area code seems to originate from the Texas area.... I'm going to attempt to call it back this evening and see what happens.... I'll let you know the results.

Peace,
HT

[whalala]

I was wondering if I can call my cell phone company and have that telephone number blocked. Is it possible? I got a call from that number and hung up at 15 seconds. Does that mean I'm going to be charged $7.50?

If so, can I contest the charge on my telephone bill?

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

I doubt there'd be much you can do to contest cell phone charges because you answered the phone....

As far as the $7.50 for 15 seconds... I think it's time to switch providers..... I pay 0.25/minute for my long distance and I still find that expensive....

Peace,
HT

[Dibi]

HI everyone,

I just signed up because I got the calls too, I got 5 in a 25 minute span, I did press 9, 3 times, because I wanted to find out how they got my number. It is a predictive dialer but they have a list from somewhere because my cel phone waqs called then 1 minute later my direct work number was called. the 2 nombers are not at all similar and I dont give out my direct work number.

First call of 3 I asked the woman how they got my number, she said its a automatic dialer thanks and hung up

2nd call of 3 I let a man do his whole pitch and asked how he got my number, he said its a automatic dialer also, so I asked for a toll free number he gave me 1-800-924-8198 which is valid and a web site of vrcvacations.com he was polite and gave the name of george. I said I wasnt interested and that was the end of it.

3rd call was a woman on another different work line so I answered again, I forget her name but it was odd, she was nice and said she has worked there for a total of 2 days. I told her she seemed nice and to find another job, I also asked to speak to her Manager, she was suposed to transfer me and I ended up in someones voice mail for Laurie and Voula but it sounded like someones answering machine at home if you have bell call answer. While I was talking to her I got a 4th call and I just hung up on it.

They called my fax line to almost right after the other calls.

I spoke to Bell canada who is my phone provider and they said there is not really much to be done at this point because as far as they can see nothing illegal has been done yet. They also said if any charges occur they will be reversed.

I also called back that toll free number and the "reps" think that they have called you.

Also when I was speaking to the 3rd girl, she said that she had no computer at her desk and that if I wanted to place an order I would have to speak to someone else and she was just there to give information. What business would have people calling through a automatic dialer and not give their employees computers to see the info of the person who they are calling.

This Dosent add up, I hope we get some more info soon. I have better things to do then waste 90 minutes on this crud calling all of my phone service providers. I would recomend calling phonebusters and if there any americans seeing this to go to the local police or FBI because I dont think our government really can do much, it has to be the US athorities.

Hope to find out more and I will post what I know

Dibi

[neom]

Hay guys,

I signed up here because I also have been receiving these calls. It first started around 2 weeks ago when I got a call on my cell phone at work. Now people don’t usually call me during the day on my cell phone because anyone who knows my number knows I am working and unless its work related, they won’t call it. So I picked up, thinking it must be important and got this automated system telling me I’d won a holiday. I let it do its thing and pressed 9 to talk to an operator, no one picked up, the line just went dead.

So then, I thought nothing more of it, but then all our company vehicle car phones starting being called.. and we don’t give out that number, it’s just so we can get in touch with people on the road.. well.. that was quite strange. And then, a guy I work with, he got a call at home about it! Today at work, we got a call one each of our lines (including our servers dial in line and our fax lines/private lines). It’s ridiculous. If each one of our lines is tied up with this dumb crap, we could be losing money.

Unfortunately, I can’t see anything illegal with this. I was thinking about some sort of class action for damages (potential loss of profit) but I’m not sure that would go down so well.

I’ve yet to be able to talk to someone from this company as ever time I hit 9, I don’t get an operator.

I also don’t understand what the scam is.. what are they gaining? Do they ask for credit card details? I don’t get it.. but the whole thing is stupid.

I work for Sigh and Sound/Audiotronic in Northwestern Ontario; we are finding it less than amusing.

Best regards,

John.

[neom]

Hay guys. Just wanted to post an update.

I did a lookup on the number to find out who the carrier is, and it’s a company called Global Naps, Inc. I looked into the company, and actually gave them a call. They said they have been hearing about this a lot. What is happening is that the company who is sending out these spam calls are masking their outgoing number for caller ID with this number.. and it isn’t actually the real number. He said that he has been hearing about this a lot recently and he told me to email their companies (Global Naps) support department and explain the situation and they would have their legal department look into it.

The email address he gave me is support@gnaps.com. I’ve not emailed them yet myself, however I will get to it sometime tonight, I suggest you do the same.

I’m trying to find out who is the carrier of that 800 number previously mentioned, but it’s proving to be a little harder. I’m going to keep working on it though.

UPDATE

The other number mentioned by HTRegz ((214) 279-0990) is owned by Xo Communication, in Texas. I contacted them and spoke to a nice guy called Jason. He said that number is one of their reseller’s numbers and he didn’t know who owned it directly but he has heard about this –a lot-, the reseller is called JT communications. He is going to be contacting them and asking them to disable that number immediately.

While talking to him, I also managed to get him to do a search for me on the 888 number that letsgetitover talked about (1-888-849-2551) with a bit of social engineering I shook the carrier out of him. Apparently toll free isn’t public information, but the numbers carrier is AT&T. I've not contacted AT&T yet about the 888 number because I'm not sure what they would do about it or how reliable that information is.

[Dibi]

I just did a search on the web address of www.vrcvacations.com and got some extra info off of whois.com, this is the info they have.

Registrant: Vacation Reservation Center

Address: Richard Hill
191 Cottage Cove Lane
Williamsburg, VA 23185
US
Phone: 7578734005
Email: rhill58@cox.net

First Registered: April 16, 2004

Last Updated: August 04, 2004

Administrative Contact: Vacation Reservation Center
Richard Hill
191 Cottage Cove Lane
Williamsburg, VA 23185
US
Phone: 7578734005
Email: rhill58@cox.net

Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Register.Com
Domain Registrar
575 8th Avenue - 11th Floor
New York, NY 10018
US
Phone: 902-749-2701
Fax..: 902-749-5429
Email: domain-registrar@register.com

Name Servers:
NS.GLOBALNAMESERVERS.COM 208.56.139.110
NS2.GLOBALNAMESERVERS.COM 208.56.138.95

One thing I find sort of odd is that the New york technical contact phone number actually is a Nova Scotia (902) Area code. Nova Scotica and New Brunswick do have a lot of call centers though so that could be why.

I have also spoke to Bell canada and they are investigating and said that if the calls continue to call the police. I am going to record the call the next time they call, I am also going to act very interested to see where the call leads.

Dibi

[diskodukk]

I also received calls from these guys on my cell phone and on my home phone. I googled and found this site http://www.policeworld.net/forums/index.php/topic,6146.0/prev_next,prev
which says that:

Beware of the following number on primarily, your cell and home phones:

1-305-675-6263.

There's a message, It's a recorded female voice saying that you've won a trip for you and your family to Flordia for 6 days... 3 days in Orlando and three days in some other city.. Then it talks about for the low cost of only $99 USD per person... All you have to do to find out more is press 9.

DO NOT. This somehow authorizes the others to bill calls to your number.

I understand this is a Canadian phone phishing scam.

So I hope for the sake of all of you who actually pressed 9, that they will stop these guys. I didn't press 9, I automatically hang up on telemarketers... :D hope this helps... and Saultites Rock! :D

[neom]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=265480#post824232) by diskodukk

DO NOT. This somehow authorizes the others to bill calls to your number.

I understand this is a Canadian phone phishing scam.

So I hope for the sake of all of you who actually pressed 9, that they will stop these guys. I didn't press 9, I automatically hang up on telemarketers... :D hope this helps... and Saultites Rock! :D


IIRC this is not possable because of the way the phone system works?

[HTRegz]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=265480#post824330) by neom
IIRC this is not possable because of the way the phone system works?

Hey Hey,

It's not possible... It's a myth based on the concept that many businesses dial '9' for an outside line. I posted a link to a complete write up as to why it's a myth near the start of this thread.

Peace,
HT

[klondike]

Hi guys
New here and gotta say.......The place looks good,
I got the call also, and did a search on the net and found AO.
I called Bell canada and explained to the operator what just hapend.
She told me it's a scam that they know about and to hold on she would transfer me to a Costumer service Rep..
A couple minutes later the Costumer service Rep came on and said that they did an investigation on it cause lots of ppl had gotten the same call.
But that the company is a legit company in florida and no crimes are hapening.
I got the call on my home line and am curious to see if they will call my cell line.
Oh well.
I'm gonna call them just for fun and ask for Jeff. :D

[FreakyLocke]

Hey guys

like all the other members of this thread, I too have had these calls, I'm in Montreal, and that's not the only number that is calling to my house, I also get phone calls from 381-088-1445, it's probably related and the area code is from Virginia. I never got to answer my phone in time to even get the automatic message, that's probably because they call at 3 AM and 4 AM at least twice per week!!! can I sue their @sses for this?? heh, anyway, I was fed up and tried a search on the net, the 381-088-1445 doesn't appear anywhere on Google, but I'm glad I found this thread with the other number. I'm also with Bell so there is no use for me to call them as some of you guys already have, but I'll check this forum from time to time to check up on updates. Keep up the good work! :)

[Cdn]

Ok i got the 305 area code number call my land line the last 2 days but I was not in. And then today I got a call on my cell phone from that same number. So i figured it might be someone i know, never bothered to call it back before. Then I hear the crap about the $99 Fl vacation. I pressed 9 to speak to someone to ream em out about it being illegal to call as a telemarketer on a cell phone here in canada. Well I was on hold for a couple of minutes then it hung up.
So I highly doubt they can hijack your cell for long distance BUT just to be on the safe side as who knows what can be done with the technology today. I called Bell Canada and they are aware of this, they have been getting customers calling about this number and the woman was very nice and took down the info. Also she put me through directly to Bell Mobility. And the woamn there was very helpful and basically overall there is not much that can be done right now. But I say call your cell provider and local phone provider and give them as much details as you can. I even gave them this site to check out too for the threads. Seems this is a new thing, telemarketing scams originating from the US. Thing is how do they get our cell numbers??
Anyhow Bell will watch your long distance charges, and anything that seems strange they will look into. I would tell them the places you call frequently so that they will be aware of any odd numbers coming up, especially on your cell phone.
I am gonna pass this info onto some co-workers to alert them. Very strange and looks like something new.

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

This thread has been dead for a while, although the forum is too... I'm finally over my sickness (which sucked)... out of exam week (although tests start again in a week) and done a major website I was hired to design so I've got some time to post. Anyways I wanted to bring this form back just to say that the calls are still occuring. I received my second call from this number on Saturday... I'm guessing they got to the end of their list and started over. The thing I don't like is that they don't have to comply to any Canadian laws.... In Canada (learned this working at a call center), it's aginst the law for a call center to leave a message on voice mail.... that's why you usually hear Hello... Hello... hello... click... This company however is leaving voicemail with their entire recorded message.. I pay 25C/minute for long distance and I pay for voicemail... This is a real problem for me... I had to pay while they left a long distance telemarketing/scam attempt... I'm going to call the phone company again and see what happens, but who knows what they'll say.

Anyways just an update.

Peace,
HT