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| Inmates scamming public with calls |
| By Alton Telegraph |
| Published: 12/29/2003 |
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Sheriff Robert Hertz is urging people not to accept collect telephone calls from the Madison County (Ill.) Jail unless they know who is calling. The sheriff said prisoners "who have nothing better to do" are calling people they don't know and attempting, with some success, to talk them into setting up a third-party call, which could cost a lot of money. He said prisoners have talked some soft-hearted people into accepting such calls in the past. Some of them simply will call numbers, more or less at random, until they get someone who is willing to accept the charge. Once someone accepts a call from the jail, the number could be passed around to other prisoners who might try the same number. "These jailbirds have too much free time on their hands," said Paul Pfeifer of Godfrey, who said in an interview that he has gotten several such calls on recent evenings. The automatic phone message that people received merely told them someone was calling from the County Jail. Some people, not knowing whether someone they knew was in trouble and calling from jail, would accept such calls, he said. The telephone company has improved its automatic message to inform people that they "may not know" the caller but that if they accept the call, it will be charged to their bill. Pfeifer said he did not accept the charges when he was called, but he is concerned about the fact that some unwary person might think a friend or loved one is in jail and needs to be bailed out. He said if those people get talked into accepting the third-party call, it could get expensive. He noted that, even though he hasn't swallowed the scam, the calls are a nuisance, at the least. He said he contacted jail officials and was told that "numerous complaints" had been received from the public. |
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