V Graphix received this hoax for the first time on January 22nd, 2000. The text of the hoax is as follows:
<<<<<<<<<<ORIGINAL
TEXT FOLLOWS>>>>>>>>>>>>
DIAL 90#!?
This is scary to think
that our kids are answering the phones.
Important, please read.
This can happen at home and at work, everyone should be aware...I've sent this
to all my friends last Friday night and I've already had 3 email me and say
that it's already happened to them. I received a telephone call from an individual
identifying himself as an AT&T Service Technician that was running a test on
our telephone lines.
He stated that to complete
the test we should touch nine (9), zero (0), pound sign (#) and hang up. Luckily,
we were suspicious and refused.
Upon contacting the telephone company we were informed that by pushing 90# you
end up giving the individual that called you access to your telephone line and
allows them to place a long distance telephone call, with the charge appearing
on your telephone bill.
We were further informed that this scam has been originating from many of the
local jails/prisons. I have verified with UCB Telecom. that this actually happens.
I called GTE Security this morning and verified that this is definitely possible
and DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE. It will give them access to your phone line
to make long distances calls ANYWHERE!!!! The GTE Security department told me
to go ahead and share this information with EVERYONE I KNOW!!! Could you PLEASE
pass this on. If you have mailing lists and/or newsletters from organizations
you are connected with, I encourage you to include this information.
<<<<<<<<<<<<END MESSAGE>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This is a hoax. I, Tim Dineen, owner of V Graphix, called AT&T and GTE myself, and spoke with repair technicians, operators and supervisors at each on the afternoon of January 22nd, 2000.
All of those I spoke with said that "this is NOT a code that is used by (their) technicians", verifying that this is a hoax. They all also said that "a technician (from either GTE or AT&T) will not call and request the home or business customer to do anything like this".
If you should receive a call like this, report it to your local phone company immediately. It is likely to be the troublemaker who received a forwarded warning like this, or someone trying to see if it works (which it doesn't).
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Hoaxes will usually contain requests to "forward this to everyone you know". If something seems to good to be true, it usually is. E-mail cannot be traced through many users unless the header contains all of the forwarded list. We recommend using the BCC field instead of the CC field when forwarding to multiple recipients. No one receiving the e-mail will see any other addresses than yours and theirs.
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