Scam Calls May Not Ring True

Among the hottest new penny-ante consumer frauds is a vile little phone scam involving international calls.

Consumers get a threatening--or frightening--message via phone, e-mail or beeper. One scam threatens legal action unless you call to discuss “the status of your account.” Another warns that someone in your family has been injured and you need to call immediately. The return phone number starts with an unfamiliar area code--809 or 203.

Those who return the call get a recording, which passes them through an electronic labyrinth. In this case, patience is a liability rather than a virtue. This call is going into the Caribbean, and you’re racking up costly long-distance charges with every wasted minute. The con artist apparently gets a percentage of the long-distance tab from a phone service in the Caribbean, says Kathy Oram, spokeswoman with AT&T; in San Francisco.

So the purpose of the scam is to keep you hanging as long as possible. In the end, your long-distance phone bill includes a charge that may amount to as much as a dollar a minute.

“How much it costs you really depends on how quickly the person figures out that they’re being scammed,” Oram says. “It’s generally not huge amounts per customer, but it’s particularly egregious because people think they’re returning a legitimate call. They don’t go around memorizing area codes, so they have no idea that it’s going to be costly.”

No one knows precisely how many consumers have been taken in by this scam. However, it’s caught the attention of law enforcement officials and phone company executives all over the country. Apparently, con artists will hit a specific geographic area hard and then move on once the scam is publicized.

However, to make matters worse, the various islands in the Caribbean will soon be getting different area codes, Oram says. It may be harder to educate consumers about the risks when there are dozens of problem area codes.

What’s a consumer to do? If you get a message demanding a return call to an unfamiliar area code, call the long-distance operator (dial 00) and ask what geographic region you’d be calling. Then, if you have no relatives who might be legitimately injured in Tortola, Antigua or Tobago, simply ignore the call.

If you’ve already been scammed, call your long-distance company, Oram suggests. They’re not obligated to write off the call, but many will reduce the charges for customers who have been taken.

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Free money workshops: Lost control over your spending? Need help with buying a car? Wish you knew how to budget? Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Los Angeles has free workshops to help.

“Mind Over Money”--a two-hour class on beating your spending into submission--will be held at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 1 at 600 Citadel Drive, fourth floor, in the City of Commerce.

A seminar on buying a car will be held at the same location at 10 a.m. Feb. 8. In addition, several basic budgeting workshops will be held during mid-February in Pasadena, Commerce, Torrance and Granada Hills. To register or inquire about dates and times, call CCCS at (213) 724-7300 or (213) 890-9517.

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Financial Planning on the Web: Those who are trying to get their financial acts together but need help with such big-ticket items as retirement and college planning can get loads of help via the World Wide Web. A host of trade groups and mutual fund companies have put up sites to help with your goals--and, naturally, to tout their products.

Among the better sites is one offered by Scudder, Stevens & Clark at https://funds.scudder.com, which offers users the ability to create a personal page to track their investments. It also offers asset allocation, retirement planning and college planning work sheets.

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Consumer Checklist is a weekly feature that covers a range of pocketbook issues of interest to Californians. To contribute information write to Kathy M. Kristof, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053; or e-mail [email protected]