The 809 Area Code Scam Is A Real Con Game

Last significant update: 24 November, 2004

This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.

Thanks to Chris Coon for first bringing this scam to our attention way back on 22 January, 1997.

There is a fairly old scam that has recently been warned about a fair amount -- both by email, and in the media. In short:

• One is swindled into dialing the 809 area code for some supposedly urgent problem;
• The person who answers keeps the caller on the line as long as possible;
• Then the caller is billed an exorbitant rate for this.

For a list of area codes outside the U.S. but for which no International Dialing Code is required, click here

For more information, see what the Better Business Bureau (leaving our site), FCC (leaving our site), and AT&T (leaving our site) have to say about this.

Here is the text of the scam alert; for the most part, it's accurate, but I'll interject a comment or two.

> --------------------------
>   SPECIAL ALERT--DO NOT EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809
> 
> 
>   SCAM Don't Respond To Emails, Phone Calls, Or  Pages Which  Tell You
>   To Call An "809" Phone Number.
> 
> This is a very important issue of Internet ScamBusters!  because it
> alerts you to a scam that is - spreading *extremely*  quickly - can easily
> cost you $100 or more, and - is difficult  to avoid unless you are aware of
> it. We'd like to thank Paul Bruemmer and Brian Stains for  bringing this
> scam to our attention. This scam has also been identified by the National
> Fraud Information Center and is costing victims a lot of money. There are
> lots of different permutations of this scam,but here is how it works
> 
> Permutation #1 Internet Based Phone Scam Via Email You  receive an
> email,typically with a subject line of "*ALERT*" or  Unpaid account."  The
> message, which is being spammed across the net, says  I am writing to give
> you a  final 24hrs to settle your outstanding account.. If I have not
> received the settlement in full, I will commence legal proceedings without
> further delay. If you would like to discuss this matter to avoid court
> action, call Mike Murray at  Global Communications on +1 809 496 - 2700.
> 
> Permutation #2 Phone Or Pager Scam You receive a message on your
> answering machine or our pager which asks you to call a number beginning
> with area code 809. The reason to you're asked to call varies it can be to
> receive information about a family member who has been ill, to tell you
> someone has been arrested, died, to let  you know you have won a
> wonderful prize, etc. In each case, you're told to call the 809 number
> right away.
> 
> Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly
> return these calls. If you call from the US, you will apparently be charged
> $25 per-minute! Sometimes the person who answers the phone will speak
> broken English and pretend not to understand you.  Other times, you'll just
> get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try
> to keep you on the  phone as long as possible to increase the charges.
> Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you'll often be charged
> more than $100.00.
> 
> Here's why it works
> The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin Islands (the
> Bahamas).

Actually, this area code once covered several countries in the Caribbean, but now is exclusively reserved for the Dominican Republic. Who knows where the scam originated; it really doesn't matter for our purposes here. Of course, the important thing is the fact that the number starts with "8", which might lead the caller to think that it is toll-free....

In fact, while the 809 are code once included the British Virgin Islands, it does no longer: their area code is now 284; thanks to Berton Smith for pointing this out to us. We have no firm information about whether or not this scam originated in the British Virgin Islands, or indeed whether it was ever perpetrated from there. All we can say with some assurance is that it came from somewhere in the Caribbean.

> The 809 area code can be used as a "pay-per-call" number, similar to 900
> numbers in the US.  Since 809 is not in the US, it is not covered by US
> regulations of 900 numbers, which require that you be notified and warned
> of charges and rates involved when you call a "pay-per-call"  number. There
> is also no requirement that the company provide a time period
> during which you may terminate the call without being charged. Further,
> whereas many US phones have 900 number blocking to avoid these kinds of
> charges, 900 number blocking will not prevent calls to the 809 area code.
> We recommend that no matter how you get the message, if you are asked to
> call a number with an 809 area code that you don't recognize, investigate
> further and/or disregard the message.  Be *very* wary of email or calls
> asking you to call an 809 area code number.  It's important to prevent
> becoming a victim of this scam, since trying to fight the charges
> afterwards can become a real nightmare.  That's because you did actually
> make the call.  If you complain, both our local phone company and your long
> distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell
> you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company.
> You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done
> nothing wrong.
> 
> Please forward this entire issue of Internet ScamBusters! to your
> friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam so
> they don't get ripped off.

The address of Internet ScamBusters wasn't included in the copy of this email I received; see <http://www.scambusters.com/> -- the Internet ScamBusters home page (leaving our site) if you want to find more info on this.

Please do not forward this -- or any other hoax or scam -- to all your friends; the benefit is dwarfed by the amount of mail it generates, and the low level of the threat itself.

Instead, you should either delete the message, or carefully target it to people who

• Are likely to be targets of this scam, and
• Understand that they too should forward responsibly if at all

   -BPB

Area Codes outside of the U.S.

Update: To look up the current state of any particular area code, see the NANPA (leaving our site) or AREACODE-INFO (leaving our site) data. Thanks to Bill Wells at the University of California at Berkeley for introducing us to these links on 16 January, 2001.

Here is a possibly incomplete list of area codes outside the U.S. proper, but that do not require an international dialing code. Note that new area codes do crop up all the time, so this is no more current than my July 1999 [updated: 2000-2001] phone book.... I'm pretty sure that all the Canada ones are safe enough, but I make no claims about whether any of these are codes have the possibility of unreasonable rates:

• 204 Manitoba, Ca.
• 242 Bahamas
• 246 Barbados
• 250 British Columbia, Ca.
• 264 Anguilla
• 268 Antigua (in 1999), now Barbuda
• 284 British Virgin Islands
• 306 Saskatchewan, Ca.
• 340 U.S Virgin Islands [added 2000]
• 345 Cayman Islands
• 403 Alberta, Ca.
• 416 Ontario, Ca.
• 418 Quebec, Ca.
• 441 Bermuda
• 450 Quebec, Ca.
• 456 International Inbound (??)
• 473 Grenada
• 500 Personal Communications Services
• 506 New Brunswick, Ca.
• 514 Quebec, Ca.
• 519 Ontario, Ca.
• 600 Canada/Services
• 604 British Columbia
• 613 Ontario, Ca.
• 649 Turks & Caicos
• 664 Montserrat
• 670 CNMI
• 671 Guam
• 700 IC Services
• 705 Ontario, Ca.
• 709 Newfoundland, Ca.
• 758 St. Lucia
• 767 Dominica
• 780 Alberta, Ca.
• 784 St. Vincent/Grenadines
• 787 Puerto Rico
• [800 Toll-free]
• 807 Ontario, Ca.
• 809 Dominican Republic
• 819 Quebec, Ca.
• [822 Future Toll free; implementation not yet scheduled]
• [833 Future Toll free; implementation not yet scheduled]
• [844 Future Toll free; implementation not yet scheduled]
• [855 Toll free; implemented 18 November, 2000]
• [866 Toll free; implemented 29 July, 2000]
• 867 Yukon and Northwest Territories, Ca.
• 868 Trinidad and Tobago
• 869 St. Kitts/Nevis
• 876 Jamaica
• [877 Toll-free; implemented 5 April 1998]
• 880 Paid 800 Service
• 882 Paid 888 Service (in 1999); now Paid 881 Service (2000)
• [888 Toll-free; implemented 1 March 1996 ]
• 900 900 Service
• 902 Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Ca.
• 905 Ontario, Ca.

If you find an error or an addition to this list, please let me know.

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