Interesting Phone Scam

And since it came from a newspaper, with police officials quoted, it's a couple of steps up from something you get forwarded to you in email! From the September 6, 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

LAKE SAINT LOUIS • Ray Lambert admits he’s a skeptic, so maybe that’s why he didn’t believe the man claiming to be a Cook County sheriff’s deputy on the other end of the line this morning.
Lake Saint Louis police say if Lambert had done what the caller had asked, he would have been the latest victim of a scam that could have racked up hundreds of dollars in long distance telephone bills.
The caller told Lambert that he was Sgt. Smith, badge number 2384, with the Cook County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department. He said a woman who was involved in an accident that morning was in critical condition and had Lambert’s number saved in her cell phone.
"He said they were trying to reach the next of kin, but I told him I don’t live in Cook County, and I don’t know anybody there either," Lambert, 62, said.
Another red flag went up when Lambert looked at his caller ID, and the screen said "prison."
Lambert, 62, hung up. The man called back, and Lambert hung up again. Then the man called a third time.
"He was very persistent and wanted me to call this number that began with star (*) -7-2," Lambert said. "He said it was the number of the hospital where the lady supposedly was."
Instead Lambert asked the caller to give him his phone number at the sheriff’s department so he could verify who he was. The caller hung up -- and didn’t call back.
According to an alert sent out by AT&T, *-7-2 is a custom feature for call forwarding. When the customer dials *-7-2 followed by a telephone number, it activates the call forwarding feature on their phone. All incoming calls then ring at the other number.
At the end of the other line, the original caller’s partner in crime is able to accept all collect and third-party calls, while telling callers to the victim that they have the wrong number. The victim gets billed for all calls because they are forwarded through their number. The call forwarding may go on for several days before the victim is aware of it.
Lake Saint Louis Police Chief Michael Force said his department had gotten about 10 complaints about the scam recently. Several of the calls had originated from the Cook County Jail.