2687620156

No joke i just got a call from this number and i called it back on a different phone. it just said "waiting for the operator" and then some weird house music started playing for like 2 minutes. i then hung up. what was that?!

I hope you enjoyed the music, because it's gonna cost ya...

CARIBBEAN ISLAND AREA CODE WARNING -- DO NOT RETURN DIAL ONE RING CALLS RECEIVED FROM CARIBBEAN ISLAND AREA CODES !!!!!!

Here is a warning (which happens to be from Verizon) concerning the Caribbean Island area code scam.  Note particularly the subsections entitled "Pagers" and "E-mail" near the top of the page:
http://www.verizonenterprise.com/solutions/pu ... phone/index.xml

The Verizon web page also references an old Scambusters web page explaining this scam that appears to have first been written around 1999:
http://www.scambusters.org/809Scam.html

In one current variant of this scam, the caller doesn't have any intention of talking to you. All the scammer wants is for you to get upset enough about the late night call that you return the call, never even noticing that it is from a foreign country outside the reach of US or Canadian laws. When you return the call (at international rates), there may also be a big surcharge added to your phone bill that gets passed along to the scammer.  Many of these calls come from Grenada, but more recently, a large number of reports have been received reporting similar calls from Dominica.

In what is apparently a second current version of the scam, some reports in 800notes.com assert that people who have been called by some of these numbers have received large charges on their phone bills despite never having called the number back.  To the extent that these reports can be taken at face value, you may have to either block calls FROM any or all of these countries AT YOUR PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER.  If your phone service provider cannot do this to your satisfaction, you may be forced to switch to another phone service provider to avoid this scam.  Software solutions or external hardware that relies upon the delivery of a caller ID number to "hide" the fact that someone is calling (e.g., immediate pick-up and hang-up) are NOT likely to work.  That is because the software on your phone actually connects the call for a very brief period of time when it picks up the call and that is enough for your phone company to notice the connection and to charge you for receiving the call.  (I have no knowledge of whether call blocking by iOS 7 from Apple works this way or not.)  Using silent ringtones may not work, either, if the call lasts long enough to be diverted to voice mail for even a single second.  Call your provider NOW and ask for a solution to reject these calls before they start.

What appears to have been one of the earliest reports of the original version of the scam (unless the original publication date that I gave of the Scambusters report is actually correct) surfaced about 11 years ago in Japan.  There it became known as the "Wangiri scam:"

From Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2002/08/21/n ... r/#.Ur2543-9KSN

See also, from the Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/1367988

A few U.S. news organizations, but not many, have picked up on this latest variant, at least with respect to Grenada area code 473:

KPVI, Pocatello, ID TV report on Grenada phone scam
http://youtu.be/eSp9tY1gBW8

From Toledo News Now
http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/23695832/b ... huge-phone-bill

An older report from WCAX-TV in Burlington, VT describes the scam:
http://www.wcax.com/story/15581487/check-your ... area-code-scams

The biggest news organization to date that I have seen recently running a story on this scam is KSL-TV, Salt Lake City, Utah:
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=28211799&nid=148&titl ... _cid=featured-3

In fact, Salt Lake City has either been specifically target for this aggressive scam, or at least the local law enforcement agencies and phone companies have a heightened awareness of it, as indicated by these two reports from KSTU Fox 13 news in Salt Lake City:
http://fox13now.com/2014/01/02/victim-officia ... targets-utahns/
and
http://fox13now.com/2014/01/02/police-warn-ag ... -473-area-code/

I don't think this problem is limited to or has anything to do with any particular cell phone provider.  The same problem has been reported on other carriers, I believe, but Verizon Wireless appears to be the biggest carrier, so they get the most calls.  Verizon has a discussion board set up with at least one thread concerning "473" calls from Grenada:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1035009

It appears that at least Verizon is devoting some resources to stop these callers or at least refund some or all of the charges for people who call these numbers.  How long that will last is known only to Verizon, and even they may not have decided at this point.  Other carriers may also be doing the same.  They all want to avoid bad publicity that may drive away customers, of course.

At least one early report on 800notes.com, if taken at face value, asserted that a charge of $100.00 was made to a phone bill for calling back for 15 seconds.  Even regular calls to Caribbean Island numbers, for example, are billed at upwards of $1.80 per minute by most cell phone carriers, even on so-called "unlimited" phone plans, unless you have paid extra for an international dialing plan.  It may be that the scammers get a cut of this money for every international call they receive.

That's why either:
(1) you can't return the phone call, because even though you would otherwise be able to dial it like an ordinary long distance number, you phone company has a restriction on your placing international calls (which these are).  At least some pre-paid cell phone services work this way.  If this case applies to you, consider yourself lucky. Or,
(2) when you call back and get through, the operator of the 473 phone number tries to keep you on hold for as long as possible to run up your phone bill and their profits.

The scammers don't have to be associated with recent security breaches, such as the recent one at Target stores.  (In fact, many of the victims of this scam say that they either don't shop at Target or did not shop there during the period of the known security breach.)  All the scammers have to do is randomly dial a lot of telephone numbers in already-assigned area codes. And they must be dialing a LOT of them based on the complaints logged to 800notes.

It probably doesn't cost them anything to dial you, either, if the called party (you) doesn't pick up the call before they hang up. It only takes a small percentage of angry and/or curious people calling back for them to make a lot of money. They don't even have to pay for real people to operate a call center -- it's all done by machines, outside the reach of US and Canadian law enforcement.

So do yourself a favor and don't call these scammers back.  And you'll also be doing us all a favor, because they wouldn't call anyone at all if there weren't so many people who fell for this scam.

I'm now seeing reports of two rings with hang ups on the Caribbean numbers Nonie!

Got call from 268-762-0156 at 12:39 am on Saturday January 18th.   ID says Antigua/Barbuda.   Did not pick it up, and no message.

I've gotten around 3 unknown calls none of which I picked up or hear rings from over the pass week. No messages, but I'm concerned that multiple weird calls have been coming into my cellphone. I wasn't a part of the target data breach, so I have no idea how they got my #. Wonder if anyone else had these three calls:
This # 268-762-0156
Apparently from NJ 201-283-9786
Idk where this # is 473-456-1759

Received a call from someone, but hung up before I could answer.

I got a call from this number at 10.47pm.  Its def some kind of scam. I get a call from another number all the time from Brooklyn. I called it back a few times and an older Jamaican lady answers and pretends she doesn't understand..That's some kind of scam too.  WTF is wrong with people...I have no patience for people always trying to get over. I'm DONE.....

call me twice same day asking for my CARD NUMBER FUNNT WRIGHT

Got call at 0732 eastern time while I was asleep! No message or voicemail left… Anyone that knows me not to call at that time on a Saturday morning unless someone is either dead or about to be dead! Thanks for all of the information on this website!

It called me @ 5:01 pm I called back nothing

No connection. I got this call this morning and did not answer it. I was not a part of the Target breach at all.

got this call on my cell tonight.  see # and I did not call back.

Got a call from this number at 6 am mountain time.  Rang once and stopped.  I did not call back.  I was not part of Target breach.  Can someone trace this caller and get it stopped?

Call in Kansas City, MO today at 12:19 p.m.

Found this call on my cell today.  see # and I did not call back.  Area code is Antigua/Barbuda.

I just got call from this number. Rang three times and nothing... no messages.
Displayed: Antigua/Barbuda. as its origin.

I'm incorporating that into the latest version of my warning.  But I'm beginning to look like I'm monopolizing the whole board, with all the new reports coming in.

There are a bunch of us who post the same things in reply to various topics and threads.  I propose we work together.  I would be willing to host a default html page for each set of standard replies, then who ever gets there first would just reply with a link.

Herman has set-up a couple of message boards for regular posters on 800notes.  Come check us out.  http://800open.betaboard.net/   It might be the right place for your boilerplate messages.  ANonieMouse and Tamianth are members.

Ok, that makes sense.  I joined up and added a new topic.  Now lets see how it looks if I add a link

http://800open.betaboard.net/n15-boiler-plate-for-ctrc-rules