Students taken in by phone scams

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Various scams have cost students money and time over the years

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by Ben Gerdemann

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The victim, Will Rice College freshman Alex Hernandez, received an e-mail message from a company called Global Communications indicating that he had an outstanding debt and threatening legal action if he did not pay.

When Hernandez called the 809 area code phone number provided to resolve the problem, he was put on hold for several minutes and never talked to a real person.

What Hernandez didn't know until afterward was that the 809 number he called was a "pay-per-minute" call to the Caribbean.

Hernandez hasn't received his bill yet, but charges could run as high as $25 per minute.

Campus Police Lieutenant Terry Ryals, with Investigations and Special Operations, is warning all students and staff not to call numbers in the 809 area code.

"I want to make people aware not to call these numbers," Ryals said. "Call the police department first."

The 809 area code is a valid number that covers islands in the Caribbean, but is also a common area-code for phone scammers to use because it looks like a U.S. area code.

According to Ryals, Hernandez has been the only person to report this scam, but he has "picked up information from other universities that are being targeted."

Ryals also warned that the scam can come in different forms. "Sometimes the message warns that a family member has been ill or arrested, or you have won a contest," he said. Other times, the callers leave messages on answering machines or call pagers.

Because these are international calls, "we don't have any jurisdiction, and there isn't much we can do," Ryals said.

To avoid scams over the phone, Ryals recommends a technological fix: caller-ID. "I will loan caller-ID to students that are receiving obscene calls," Ryals said.

"Don't be afraid to hurt their feelings," he said. "Report anything suspicious and be wary of someone asking for money."

When Hernandez got the e-mail from Global Communications, he replied because it "sounded similar to a company I had purchased supplies from," he said.

Hernandez described what happened once he reached the number. "You hear this conversation in the background; the point is to keep you on the line. At the end it tells you you've been scammed," Hernandez said.

"At first I thought maybe a friend had played a joke on me," Hernandez said. "When I read an article in Money Magazine, that's when I found it was a scam."

Hernandez called the phone company, but "they can't do anything until all the calls are tabulated at the end of the month," he said.

Long-distance provider switch

In a separate incident, about 15 students had their long distance provider switched without their consent after entering a raffle.

Will Rice College Master Shelley Cochran said that the students were switched after entering a raffle for a TV, which was sponsored by the phone company Trescom.

Students didn't know they had been switched until they received a letter in the mail.

Cochran called Trescom and talked with a representative on the phone. The representative said that the student's raffle tickets had been placed on the wrong pile and agreed to switch all the students back to their original long-distance provider and waive all transfer fees.

Cochran said, "I've been very pleased with their response; it wasn't a fly-by-night company. They were very helpful."

While Cochran said that this was not a scam, she said, "I don't think phone companies should be able to do [switch providers] so easily."

"You give your phone number out and who knows what's going to happen," Cochran said. "It's one more thing students don't need to worry about."

Fake `Cosmopolitan' caller

For the past two years, many Rice students have been harassed by a caller claiming to be a writer from Cosmopolitan magazine . A Wiess College student was recently victimized by the same type of call.

The caller claimed to be conducting a survey, asking personal questions about their sex lives. Occasionally, he has asked victims to pose in their rooms for a "fashion shoot."

One victim of the scam, who wishes to remain anonymous, said, "I thought it was for real. I was really angry about it. However, there was nothing I could do about it."

She also said, "If [a fashion shoot] sounds too good to be true, it is. We all need to be wary of this individual, and realize that professionals won't call you over the phone."

The Campus Police have not yet caught the Cosmopolitan caller.

This item appeared in the News section of the November 1, 1996 issue.

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