By Tom's Guide / Marshall Honorof
Think twice before returning that missed call: it could end up costing you a lot of money.
A new phone scam calls users without giving them enough time to answer, then tricks them into dialing pricey foreign chat lines.
The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning
about the scam, which appears to be targeting mobile-phone owners in
the United States. The trick would also theoretically work in Canada,
although a loophole in U.S. trade law makes American users more tempting
targets.
The
one-ring scam works as follows: A computer program originating outside
the U.S. dials American customers and lets the phone ring exactly once
before hanging up. This is enough time to register on a phone's
missed-calls screen, but typically not enough time for a user to
actually answer.
These
calls are often from Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, the Dominican
Republic and other countries in and around the Caribbean. As with the
U.S. and Canada, the country code for these countries begins with "1,"
which is often enough to fool unsuspecting Americans into thinking
they're receiving domestic calls.
Calling back is generally not the best idea,
as the lines connect to premium chat lines — usually involving phone
sex. In addition to charging a $20 international calling fee, these
lines also charge users for each minute spent connected.
The
practice of adding unauthorized charges to a phone conversation is
known as "cramming," and is illegal in the U.S. However, while the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can crack down on this practice
domestically, it cannot enforce U.S. law overseas.
If
you find yourself with a trumped-up international calling charge, your
only recourse may be to take it up with your carrier and hope that your
representative is in a forgiving mood.
Simply
receiving the missed call is harmless, so your best bet is to ignore
any missed calls from unknown numbers, unless they're accompanied by a
voicemail from a real person. As J.R.R. Tolkien pointed out half a
century ago, investing your resources in One Ring can lead to ruin.
