These days, with nationwide long distance and cell phone plans, most of us don’t think twice about making a long distance call. However, there are four area codes that look like they belong in the US, but aren’t, and an accidental call to one could have you paying big. I discovered this about two months ago, when my grandmother received a call that she had won a large lottery jackpot. All she had to do was to send several thousand dollars, via Western Union, to a prearranged address. Then the lottery would send her the prize. Sound too good to be true? It is. Thankfully, she wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it. International lottery scams are on the rise. Crooks from overseas are trying to deceive, what they assume to be, rich Americans into sending them cash. While this type of crime has been around for many years, but recent news reports say this type of scam is the rise. Scammers will call from, what appears to be a, local United States area code. They will leave a number to call back, often in the same area code. Their number will also show up on a caller ID, although it’s often faked. Sophisticated computer programs can disguise the actual caller’s number and assign a false number to a caller ID. The victim will then either call them back or call the number left on the ID to see whose call they missed. And BANG. You will get a big fat charge on your phone bill. Plus, some scammers redirect your call to another number that can get charge even more. According to the FCC, the deceiving area codes are: 809, 649, 248, and 876.  While the caller will dial the normal 10 digit American long distance number, 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx, these are located internationally...

You’re sitting at home, enjoying a quiet evening and then RING!  You’ve just received an annoying call from a telemarketer.  But, you’re supposed to be on the National Do Not Call List, right?  It’s a growing problem and happens to my friends and I all the time. I decided to do my own investigating and see WHO is exactly making these calls and what we can all do about it. The first thing to understand is, most of these unwanted calls are being dialed automatically by a computer. In most cases, it simply runs down the phone book and dials number after number. Other times, it could be randomly dialing numbers in hopes of getting an active number. Once you say “hello,” the computer will transfer you to a real person for the sales pitch. Over the past few years, I have been receiving more and more of these calls on my home phone. Occasionally, I’ll even get one on my cell. I never give out my cell phone number, so I know that has to be a random dial. Either way, I never answer and they rarely leave a message. I’ve had my land line on the National Do Not Call list since it was created, but that has done nothing. A good number of the calls come up UNAVAILABLE or UNKNOWN CALLER on my caller ID. Some of the calls do contain a call back number. I decided to start dialing these numbers back and investigate who the company is and what they are up to. As I started writing down the numbers, I noticed a pattern. Since I have the Verizon FiOS Triple Play TV, internet, and home phone plan, I have nationwide long distance and it costs me nothing more to dial back the numbers. Not one time did I...