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| Sheriff's office says inmates likely running phone scam |
| By Chicago Tribune |
| Published: 09/13/2004 |
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Telephone customers who suddenly stop getting calls or are startled by an expensive bill could have someone unexpected to blame: an inmate inside the Cook County (Ill.) Jail. The Cook County sheriff's office is investigating a scam inmates in the jail are apparently running to use unwitting victims and their phone numbers to relay--and pay for--the inmates' calls. The trick involves getting someone the inmates call randomly from a jail pay phone to dial "*72" and then another phone number, which forwards incoming calls away from the victim's number to the one the inmate gave. Someone at the other number dialed after *72 can then accept collect calls at will with the charge going to the victim's number, setting up the phone relay system for an inmate or anyone else to use. It happened Sunday to Georgette Warnock in Indiana, who took a call in the afternoon that showed up on her phone as originating at "Cook County Jail." She got no message about it being a collect call from an inmate when she answered, just a voice saying he was "Sgt. Wilson." "He said, `Your number has been found in somebody's possession,'" Warnock said. "He said, `You need to call this number and a Dr. Ross will explain.'" The call was unnerving to say the least, Warnock said, as she immediately thought of her three grown children, one of whom regularly visits Chicago. The caller told her she could get "Dr. Ross" directly by first dialing *72, and then his number. Warnock said she didn't think it worked when she tried it, so she had her brother-in-law in Sauk Village, John O'Malley, do it too. "My concern is that the public does not know about this," said O'Malley, who said jail security officers he called told him they have handled a number of similar complaints recently. Bill Cunningham, a sheriff's office spokesman, said investigators should be able to quickly track which phone was used to call Warnock. Cunningham said anyone who has been victimized in this way should check the sheriff's Web site at cookcountysheriff.com in coming days for more information. The office will post a number to call for those who have been victimized, he said. All calls from the jail to their phones would then be blocked. Steve Kauffman, an SBC spokesman, said customers who find irregularities in their bills should call 800-244-4444. |
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