Last week the Better Business Bureau warned consumers of what they are calling the "One Ring Cell Phone Scam." What is happening is that someone calls your cell phone number lets it ring just once and hangs up. This leaves you with a missed call. Some people will just ignore the call from the unfamiliar number, but many others have called the number back. The number is usually a number based in a Caribbean country which automatically charges you for an international call. Canada and many Caribbean countries use the same country code as the United States (1) which makes it very easy for consumers to overlook the fact that it might be an international call. The charges don't stop at the international charges. The call is then connected to an "adult entertainment" phone operator creating additional charges of about $10 per minute. This situation can be avoided by simply NOT returning the phone call. If you are a person who can't ignore the curiosity of not knowing who called, try doing a reverse phone number lookup to at least determine where in the world the call originated. If you do incur charges for this scam make sure you contact your wireless service provider and cross your fingers that they are feeling sympathetic and maybe will remove some of the charges.
The most important thing to remember is that you cannot be charged for a call that you don't answer or one that you don't return. Think twice before you call back random numbers.
