The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning to people about a new scam- The missed call cell phone scam.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) have issued a alert about the cell phone scam, explaining it in more detail. The scam group have their computers call your cell phone number (and, of course, the numbers of thousands of other people), and let the phone ring just once. That leaves a "missed call" indicator on your phone. Most of us will ignore the call but others wondering who just called from an unfamiliar number will call back. That's when the trouble begins.
If you call back, you're actually calling an international number, and the cell phone scam immediately connects you to a premium service, such as an adult entertainment service or "chat" line. The meter immediately starts running often hitting you with an initial international call fee of $19.95, followed by charges of perhaps $9 per minute, or more. The total hit could be just a few dollars so as not to catch your attention or concern or it could be much more.
You can avoid getting involved by simply not calling back an unknown number that was missed. The Better Business Bureau notes that these calls generally come from outside the U.S., with many having originated in Antigua or Barbuda (area code 268), the Dominican Republic (809), Jamaica (876), British Virgin Islands (284) and Grenada (473).
If you do get tricked by this scam, you should call your cell phone carrier as soon as possible and ask that these charges be removed. It's also a good idea to review your past statements looking for suspicious charges. You may already have fallen victim to this cell phone scam. You can also Google the phone number to see if anyone else has reported anything fraudulent about it. There are several sites online where you can see what others might have reported about these numbers.
Since all of us with cell phones are receiving calls from numbers that we don't know, please remember that a seemingly innocent missed call on your cell phone could turn into a big unwanted charge on your phone bill.
