If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a telephone technician seeking to test the phone line and requesting that you dial 90#, hang up immediately without dialing the requested numbers. The request and the alleged technician are both part of yet another scam targeted at residential and small business customers, says Pacific Bell.
Pacific Bell has already made changes in its network to cause callers trying to perpetuate this scam to be automatically disconnected. For medium and large businesses, switches have been programmed to reject any call transfers from Centrex lines to 90#. However, for some businesses using PBX's, there remains a potential threat.
The company suggests the following strategies to help avoid phone scams:
-- Do not cooperate with callers claiming to be telephone technicians and asking for your assistance to test the line. Real technicians do not need your assistance.
-- Ask to speak to their supervisor, or ask for their phone number. If they do not cooperate, hang up.
-- Businesses using PBX's can check with their vendor to disallow call transfers to 90# and 900#.
-- Beware of requests for transfers to 900 or 800 extensions.
-- Train employees not to transfer anyone, ever, to an outside line.
-- Never provide personal or proprietary information to unsolicited callers.
-- Do not dispose of organizational charts with employees' names and telephone numbers in public dumpsters because scammers can easily retrieve and use that information.
-- Develop password security. Change passwords every 30 days. Do not make passwords obvious.
Copyright 1999, Attard Communications, Inc.