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Fraudulent Inmate Phone Calls / Scams
11/05/2008
If you receive a
telephone call originating from the Harris County Jail,
from an unknown caller, who requests you call a number for
him/her preceded by *72, please hang-up immediately!
This is a common call forwarding scam.
The caller may seem
genuine, and may even say something to the effect of,
“Please help, I’ve been arrested for traffic tickets. I was
supposed to pick up my children from school, this was my only
phone call and I dialed the wrong number. Please dial *72
xxx-xxx-xxxx for me so I can check on my children.”
Or, the caller may claim to be a deputy sheriff or police
officer, and may say something to the effect of, “This
is Officer So-And-So. A member of your family has been
arrested (or been involved in a traffic accident) in Houston.
He/she gave us your telephone number and asked that you
contact him/her at the following number *72 xxx-xxx-xxxx.”
Unfortunately, if
you follow the caller's instructions, your phone will be “call
forwarded” to the number provided by the inmate. All future
calls to your telephone number will bypass your phone and ring
at the number you entered after dialing *72. The inmate
will now continue to dial your telephone number but your phone
will not ring. All inmate collect calls, accepted by the
person at the other number, will be charged to you.
What You Should Do
- Immediately dial *73 (or 73#) to cancel “Call Forwarding”
- Contact your telephone service provider and report the
fraud to them (Windstream = 800-501-1754)
- If you desire, contact SBC at 1-800-984-8800 to have
calls originating from the Harris County Jail blocked
To
contact the Harris County Sheriff's Department, dial
713-221-6700; Harris County Jail, dial 713-755-5300; or visit
them on the Web at
http://www.hcso.hctx.net.
Source:
Harris County Sheriff's Department
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