Caribbean missed call WARNING

Here is an updated version of the Caribbean one-ring call warning:

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

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.  The first wave of these calls came from Grenada (which has a 473 "area code"), but more recently, a large number of reports have been received reporting similar calls from Dominica and several other Caribbean nations.

Here is a warning (which happens to be from Verizon) concerning this 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

In 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.

This scam has a long history.  See the Economist at:
http://www.economist.com/node/1367988

A few U.S. news organizations, but not many, have picked up on this scam:

KPVI, Pocatello, ID TV
http://youtu.be/eSp9tY1gBW8

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

WCAX-TV in Burlington, VT
http://www.wcax.com/story/15581487/check-your ... area-code-scams

KVRR-TV Fox Fargo-Moorhead, ND
http://www.kvrr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24661&Itemid=57

KFYR-TV, Bismarck, ND
http://www.kfyrtv.com/story/24348647/people-on-alert-for-phone-scam

KSL-TV, Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=28211799&nid=148&titl ... _cid=featured-3

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/

If you call one of these numbers back, you may be charged a steep premium, like calling a sex chat line.  But even not, regular calls to Caribbean Island numbers are billed at $1.80 per minute or more by most cell phone carriers unless you have paid extra for an international dialing plan.

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 Caribbean 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.  They also don't need to "get" your number from anyone.  All they do is sequentially dial a lot of telephone numbers in known area codes.  

It probably doesn't cost them anything to dial you if they hang up before you can answer their call.  But 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.

Thanks for the information. I haven't, to my knowledge, gotten any calls like this.

Generally, if the phone rings once, I ignore it for any number of reasons. I get a lot of wrong number calls though, from doctors, hospitals, and patients due to my home phone number being very close to a cardiologists doctors group, though these are usually local area codes. So, sometimes I will answer because, well, I want them to know they've got a wrong number. If it's from someone I know, they will either call me back shortly or not. My family members, and some friends, often accidentally dial me more often than anyone. Sometimes they call and then they get a call at the same time, or a customer walks into their business, so they hang up on me, so I only get the one ring. In this case, I wait 5 minutes. If they haven't called back I call them just make sure everything is ok and there is no emergency. We love each and watch out for each other this way.

My advise is this though:
1. If you don't recognize the number on the Caller ID, let it go to voicemail. If it's important and legit, they will leave you a message and you can check the voicemail, then call back if necessary. However, you should make sure it's legit before returning the call by looking up the number on the web.

2. If you don't recognize the number and they don't leave a message, forget about it. DO NOT return the call.

I just received a call from antigua. My phone only rang once, didnt give me a chance to call back. I thought it might have been a friend that was on vacation but still...the number was unusual. Good thing i did my research...these scams are getting out of hand

I go one step further.... I don't answer the phone at all. I have VM but its not turned on. If a call comes in and I recognize the number, I will call them back at my convenience unless it's a call I'm waiting for.  Most of the people I communicate with know I prefer email anyway LOL that way there's a record of the discussion

http://lifehacker.com/5477231/it-didnt-happen-if-you-didnt-write-it-down

Both of our phones got called at the same time tonight around midnight. Calls came from:268.762.0076 and 268.762.0046.

I just received the same call. It rang twice, but I did not answer. I will not be calling this back and plan to block the number. Verizon will let you block up to five numbers for free on their website.

Also received a call from the Antigua number.  We don't answer our phones unless it's local or familiar to us.  Like the man said, if it's legit, they'll leave a message.

We have been receiving calls from this number:  268-762-0132 throughout the night (Antigua/Barbuda). I did call it back out of annoyance, but thank the Lord we have prepaid and I couldn't actually place the call. I started digging up what I could on what this could all be about and made it here. Glad that others are sharing their experiences to warn the rest

-Just now got 2 rings from -268-762-0013. Discarded it. I will never answer calls if they are not from the same country I live in. Glad I stumbled on this article.
-I also got a call from 473-456-1759, 268-762-0134 numbers this week Tuesday & Sunday.

  Is there no way to stop such scams and punish those who do this?

Got one from Antigua and Dominica. Also did anyone shop at target during the breach. It just seems odd in getting all these calls now?

Target wasn't the only breach,  Neiman Marcus  and Michaels (again) where also hit. There may be others according to the reports. However, all these bozo's have to do is plumb numbers into a dialer to call all over.

Michaels - the big craft store chain - was also breached.

Wait...WHAT?!

CD - there is a large chain of stores named "Michael's". They sell supplies and tools for crafts - scrap booking paper, jewelry fittings, yarn, instruction books, that sort of stuff. I shop there occasionally. Their credit card system was hacked, too. Customer data was stolen just like the data that was stolen from Target.

nM, I do know what the store is-we have one where I live and my mom and I shop there- I was merely unaware they had ALSO been hit. Forgive me for not being very clear in my previous post.