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KSP Warn of "One-Ring" Phone Scam

Paul Martin Lester

Kentucky State Police say they’re hoping to prevent residents from losing money in a telephone scam that’s shown up in other parts of the country.  Sgt. Michael Webb said criminals overseas are auto-dialing thousands of cell phones inside the U.S. and hanging up after just one ring. 

Webb said the majority of those calls are coming from the Dominican Republic (809 area code), Jamaica (876), the British Virgin Islands (284), Grenada (473), Aruba (297) and Antigua (473). 

“We would certainly encourage folks that if they don’t have someone that they know in one of those area code and are not expecting a call from there, to not answer it and to screen phone calls from any unknown area code right now,” Webb said.

Webb said if you see a missed call from an unknown area code, it’s not a good idea to return that call, or your account could be charged $20 for the call and $9 each minute.  He also encourages people to check their phone bills for any unauthorized charges.

“They need to contact their cellular provider immediately if they find out that there are any unauthorized charges," Webb said. “Especially for the overseas numbers that would be indicative of this phone scam.”

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