I don’t usually get a lot of phone scams on my office phone, probably because it’s unlisted. But I did get one today. Being April Fools’ Day, I wasn’t sure whether it was a prank or a scam; after hunting around a bit on the web I think the latter.
It was a brief call, an automated system claiming to be from Visa, saying they had a charge for $1000 for perfume “for my stinky armpit” (no joke, that’s what they called it). The automated voice told me to press 8 to accept the charge, or 9 to decline it. I hung up instead (I’ve had real calls from my bank about unauthorized charges, so I know what they sound like). Hunting around on the web showed a bunch of people claiming that pressing 9 allows the person to make long distance calls from your number somehow; Snopes says that’s only partially true. Other people also say the dial 9 scam isn’t a scam, although the latter link points out “some companies have indeed used deceptive practices to trick recipients into making premium rate calls”, which could add up, I guess. Seems like a lot of effort to go to for little reward — maybe it was an elaborate April Fools’ Day joke after all. Anyone want to ‘fess up?