Hood warns of scammers using Magic Jack
ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — Attorney General Jim Hood is warning consumers of a scam that appears to be surfacing in Mississippi.
The scam being recently reported to the Attorney General’s Office is a combination of the long-existing “emergency” and “phone spoofing” scams. In the emergency scam, the caller leads you to believe that there is some existing emergency that requires you to immediately wire money to handle (i.e., friend traveling overseas has been arrested or warrant out for your arrest requiring immediate payment to clear). Phone spoofing disguises the number from which you are actually receiving a phone call.
“The most recent case reported to us was from a Madison couple trying to verify information,” said Attorney General Hood. “The caller used a 407 area code and claimed to be an ‘Officer Jack’ from Orlando, Fla. He told the female there was a warrant out for her arrest and she would be picked up the next day if she did not pay to settle the charge. She and her husband were smart to verify before panicking.”
As it turned out in the Madison case, there was no warrant and the phone number taken from the couple’s caller ID was registered to Ymax Communication, also known as Magic Jack, a legitimate Internet-based phone business. The con artist was using Magic Jack to conceal the fact that he was actually calling from India. When contacted by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, Magic Jack officials immediately responded to requests for more information, helped verify the scam, disconnected the phone number and marked it with fraudulent behavior in the company’s system.
“The bad guys like to use legitimate businesses to perpetrate their crimes,” said Hood. “Your best defense is to keep your guard up and verify all information before panicking and wiring money, most of which ends up overseas and virtually impossible to get back.”
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5 Responses to “Hood warns of scammers using Magic Jack”
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December 6th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for notifying and bringing to light this issue of phone spoofing /scamming. It goes hand in hand with hacking and cybercrime. I personally have been harrassed and threatened by strange calls, with an automated voice, or a pre-recorded message.
December 18th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
[...] View full post on caller id spoofing – Yahoo! News Search Results [...]
December 18th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
[...] View full post on caller id spoofing – Yahoo! News Search Results [...]
June 14th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
So True they are doing this in the Transportation world as well. They are taking numbers very
July 24th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
A friend of mine and myself have been getting calls from the same guy for months now…lol…I laugh because I recognise his voice now. He has used a Miami area code and a 235 area code and a Tx area code! The first time he called he told me my friend had 10 mins to call him or she would be arrested….and yes it was a majic jack number because I called it back….he said she gave him my number as a point of contact ha ha….I called her and gave her a diff number he left and he to said he was a sherriff….lol…he said to her he wanted to verify her ss number BUT he wanted her to say it….well, we are not that stupid and of course she didnt give it to him. But a few months later he tried again…we even told him we were on to him and he tried to play it off….then a couple months later he tried again…lol I just laughed in his face and told him to give it up…he said he was a sherriff again! HA HA! I told him we were on to him to knock it off and I hung up on him and he actually called back trying to intimmidate me….so this time my friend and I reported him to Majic Jack…..we shall see if he calls back. What an idiot….dont fall for this and never verify your ss number to anyone…..once you do…your done!!!!!