I work for the phone company ... here are scams related to that, that people fall for a ton!!!
The prison scam
"You accept a collect call from someone who says it was a mistake reaching you, but it was their only call. They give you a hardship story, working on your good nature. Tell you they really need to reach someone and ask you to call them and give them a message. They tell you the number is unique, as it is an office or secure location, that the person they want you to call, is located. The number is something like *727025551414. You tell them, okay and hang up and dial the number. Someone answers and tells you the number you called was wrong. You think nothing of it and then a few minutes later your phone rings once and stops and you think, 'That was odd.' It happens more times and you wonder what is up. This is what is up.
A person in a prison scammed you. *72 is the sequence to forward your calls. They had you forward your number to a phone booth. That person at the phone booth is taking your calls and accepting the collect calls from the prison or jail. Cost you a lot of money.
How often does this happen? I take 100-120 calls a day, I see it happen at least 2-3 times per day with just the people I talk too. Now take that a times it by the thousands of others online. Yep, people are that gullable! You would hit *73 to shut down the forwarding by the way. In case this happens to you and all phone companies will normally reverse the charges, if this happens. Only once though and it will cause headaches. As the prison correctional company will most likely send you a collections notice for a while and you will get collection agency calls. Your SSN is not attached though, so do not worry about your Beacon score. Being an idiot, comes with a price.
The third party biller scam
ILD, ESBI, USBI, The Billing Resource Company, ... ever see these on your phone bill? If so, they are from what is called "Third Party Billers." Basically in 1996 the Telecommunications Act passed regulations of phone companies, that told them they had to allow third party charges to appear on their billing. Why? Because it allowed people a choice to have who ever they wanted for long distance and not have to do seperated billing. It also opened up the scam of third party billing, which really took off with the internet.
How do they happen? Ever see a really cool online test, survey or fun little game. That just asked a couple simple questions; like your name and phone number. You do that and they take your number and bill it to your account. Best part (In case anyone wants to make another person's life hell), they do not even confirm if the name matches the phone account. Meaning, you could put your neighbors number in on every one of these and make their next bill a living hell of messes. Other ways they come on; viruses, spyware, and even through subscriptions to magazines and even local business. Most if not all, will have names of products that sound real, but there is no product. For example, you see "SuperVoicemail" as a title in one. You think 'I want to use that and call to see how it works.' You call and ask for instructions and they are all "Humm, well... we're having technical issues." Yeah, more like "It does not exist, this is a scam on you."
These companies make millions each year, maybe even on you. Why? Because most people, NEVER READ THE DETAIL OF THEIR BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If that is the case, your an idiot. I have seen people pay for these scam products for years or several months and not even know it. They think "The phone company will look after me, no worries!" Yet be ignorant to what congress did to the phone companies in 1996. Which ties their hands.
What can you do? In some states, like Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina, and a few others. Your state government requires that the phone companies send back these charges if you say they are not something you approved ... ON YOUR FIRST CONTACT with the phone company. Also, ask your phone company to put a THIRD PARTY BILLING BLOCK on your account. It is free, and it prevents this crap billing. Calling these companies to get credit, can help. Most have customer service in the Carribean, especially Trinidad for some reason. Some just have recorded messages that say they will call you back, and never do. Either way, they can make your life HELL HELL HELL. You get mad and turn off your phone saying "I am not going to pay this crap!" You don't and one day your applying for a house and you get turned down, why? Because that crap got turned over to collections. Oh the joy of third party billing. Bet people here, at least some. Have experienced it.