Phone Scam （電話詐騙， 小心！）

電話詐騙，小心陷阱！

Don't return calls from these area
codes -- it's a scam!

（聰明人決不給不認識的電話號碼回電，以免受騙!）

（摘錄自Forbes）

A scam that repeats itself in modified forms every few years is once again spreading throughout the United Sates. Don’t be a victim!

Criminals target people simply by calling them. Intended victims receive a call on their phones from area code 473 which rings once and then disconnects, therebyarousing the call-recipient’s natural curiosity – “who just called me and from where?” Sometimes the caller actually allows the phone to ring long enough for the victim to answer -- after which the caller (or the caller’s robocaller
system) makes groaning sounds or otherwise indicates that he or she is in
distress and then hangs up, enticing the victim to wonder what is going on and call back.If either of these happens to you – don’t call back.

While area code 473 may appear to be domestic, it is not.Calls placed to 473 numbers are international calls
and can be quite expensive – and, because the criminals sometimes establish the number which the victim sees on her caller ID as a premium service number – the rate can exceed $20 for the first minute!

473 is not the only area code from which this scam has been perpetrated. Beware calls coming in from area codes 809, 284, 649 and 876, which like 473 are international, and are known to have been used for similar scams.

While 809, 473, 284, 649 and 876, may be the primary sources of the current danger, here is a list of (non-Canadian) area codes that are international. All but a few are relatively new, having been split off from 809 in the late 1990s.

Stay safe!

242- Bahamas     264 – Anguilla   268 – Antigua   284 – British Virgin Islands
345 – Cayman Islands   441 – Bermuda   473 – Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique
649 – Turks and Caicos   664 – Montserrat   758 – St Lucia   767 – Dominica
784 - St. Vincent & Grenadines   809, 829, 849 – Dominican Republic
868 - Trinidad and Tobago   876 - Jamaica   869 - St. Kitts & Nevis