Recently, the Troy (MO) Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies have taken a number of reports from residents being victimized by the "inmate (prison) phone scam." Generally, here's how it works:
A resident receives a call from someone who claims to be a police office or other emergencyservice provider. The caller states someone in the resident's family has been injured in an accident. The caller then gives the phone number the victim is to call for more information, but the phone number begings with * (star) 72.
The star 72 command activates the call forwarding feature that many people have on their phones. Other series of numbers have also been used to achieve the same or substantially similar results. Doing this gives access to your phone line to the caller. As a result, phone calls can be made by the violator from your phone line. Collect and long distance calls are usually made on your line, and you may not discover it until your next phone bill arrives. Children or elderly residents may be especially vulneralbe to this fraud.
