OMG... I just got a collect call from an inmate at some detention center..

[Misunderestimator]

:wtf: Must (I hope) have been a wrong number... Was an automated operator telling me that I had the collect call... when I heard "from an inmate at the so-and-so detention center" I hung up. Hmm... Maybe I did a bad thing. I wonder if someone I know is in trouble. The area code was Miami though, and I don't know anyone there. My caller id shows "TCG PAYPHONES" on it. Freaky.

[Bluebear]

1. Wow, maybe Kenny Boy grasping at straws?

[Tempest]

2. A scam

There's some kind of scam going around where you get a phone call from an immate and they auto connect you to a scam number overseas.

I'll try to find the alert I received about this.

[Misunderestimator]

5. Please do.... first time ever I received a call like that.

[ulysses]

27. hell yes it is

I fell for something like this a couple of years ago and found a $28 charge on my phone bill a few weeks later. I got it taken care of, but it took some time and faxes to gov't agencies.

[johnnie]

3. It's a scam that's out there I would bet

Don't know if this is it but:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/forward.asp

[Misunderestimator]

7. WOW... Well thank god I'm rude to people I don't know who call me...

good thing I hung up quickly then. Thanks!

(And how nice that you could help me out today :hi:)

[clydefrand]

4. That is a SCAM

I too have gotten them. I've forgotten what info they get if you accept the call. Don't ever accept a call from a prison unless you know who it is.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

44. Don't accept a collect call from a prison even if you know who it is...

somehow they are able to charge a ton per minute. Just write letters. It's much more convenient. And you could always email Son of Sam, if you really want to get ahold of him quick. :shrug:
Duckie

[candy]

6. Wow!!! That would sure get my attention.

[mia]

8. I get several of those a week

I always hang up. At first I felt guilty, but then I heard that the callers can use your number (if you accept their calls) for other long distance charges. I'm in Miami, and it's probably some kind of scam with people pretending to be inmates.

[Ann Arbor Dem]

9. That happened once when I was in a meeting....

One of my colleagues was on the road and we had a conference call so she could participate. After our call was finished, the phone rang and we heard almost those same words coming from the speaker, except it was from our county jail. You should have seen the looks on everyone's faces. I still laugh when I think about it.

We figured it was a wrong number....I hope it was in your case too!

[hunter]

10. Sometimes it's a wrong number...

Or some guy a woman gave a fake number to. My wife and I once had a guy who was so persistent that I had to call the warden to shut off his phone priviliges.

[Misunderestimator]

11. Just called again!! (About 10 minutes after the first call)

I would never have accepted the charges, but you Gotta love DU... would have taken me quite some time searching to figure out why I'm getting these. NOW the question is ... how do I make them stop?!?

I can see where this crap would work if you hit the right number... someone who might worry that they COULD know someone who might be in trouble. Sheesh.

[blueknight]

13. martha stewart...

will probably be calling soon

[SheBop]

21. She called me and I didn't know about the scam, so

I accepted the charges, but all she wanted to do was criticize my housekeeping and food presentation.

Why am I so naive? :silly:

[mermaid]

30. Actually, Since I Live In Texas...

I was expecting to start getting calls from Lea Fastow!

(wife of Andy Fastow, ex-Enron CEO)

[Speck Tater]

12. That happened to me several years ago.

A guy called collect through a live operator who kept telling me the man insisted it was the right number. He kept asking to talk to Jack. There was no Jack at my number, and I kept telling the operator that. Evntually, after four or five calls with different operators each time the guy finally gave up and stopped calling.

[havocmom]

47. Had a friend who worked for MCI when they had the contract for the AZ

prisons. She had constant horror stories about prisoners just trying to call anybody who would accept charges. Often they would be very abusive.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

14. It's me..pick up the phone..I didn't know you issued a restraining order

:D

[Misunderestimator]

15. LMAO... What the hell are you doing in Miami??

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. I was gonna surprise you :)

joke's on me....

Love,
Prisoner in Cellblock H

[Misunderestimator]

17. Well, it's a five hour drive from here, can you get furlough if I come?

:evilgrin:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. um..can you bail me out?

I'll figure out some way to repay...pretty please...they put salt peter in the food here.....stop before they feed me again! :scared:

[Misunderestimator]

22. But of course... I'm a bleeding heart after all...

and since you seem to be such a good cook... will you be my indentured servant until you work off the debt?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

26. uh...uh...sure...yeah.....

as long as I am paying for a good long time :D

[Misunderestimator]

29. LOL

:bounce:

[jeff30997]

18. Run for your life !!!

[Rowdyboy]

28. Hasn't that movie already been done?

"Prison Women of Cellblock H"? Sounds like a sure-fire moneymaker!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

31. it was a PBS TV show

Just another program depicting lesbians as deranged for a change :D

[Rowdyboy]

37. Shocking! Just shocking!

Deranged lesbians? I have visions of...well, lets just say "disturbing" for a gay man!

Y'all jest ain't right"

[Nay]

20. I got a call like this from the county jail.

It was an automated call, but the person who was calling inserted his name into the call, so at least I knew who it was from. It was a neighbor's son who was trying to get hold of someone to bail him out or get hold of his family. I hung up once because I didn't understand the name the first time, but then when I realized who it was, I took the second call.

If you don't know who the person is, then by all means hang up. I also have heard of the inmate calling scam.

[Misunderestimator]

24. I guess I should listen to the whole message next time...

but I'm pretty sure there's no one I care enough about in Miami... except maybe NSMA if it really was her. :)

[VoteDemocratic2004]

23. Check your phone bill immediately

You number might be on the wall by the phone and they might be using it to bill calls to.

20/20 had a segment about that kind of a thing one time.

[Misunderestimator]

25. I will, and thanks for the suggestion.

[VoteDemocratic2004]

32. If they can make a collect call on you they can bill calls to you

I know this because my phone bill was ran up to $1,200.00 one time and I freaked out when I got the bill.

Put a block on your collect calls and that will prevent them from billing anything to your phone number.

It might have not been an accident.

Call your phone company now!

[Misunderestimator]

33. But if I never accept the collect call, I don't see how they can do

anything... no? :shrug: But I will call the phone company anyway to be sure... it's after hours now, so it will have to be in the morning.

I will ask them about blocking collect calls... Thanks.

[VoteDemocratic2004]

38. What I found out after it happened to me is

If you are capable of accepting collect calls someone can also bill a call to your number. If you block collect calls it blocks calls being billed to your number.

Someone might be in jail for ripping people off on telephone calls.

It's better to be safe then sorry.

[Misunderestimator]

41. I'll definitely call in the morning. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Appreciate it. :)

[Senior citizen]

34. Ah, you young'uns.....with your busy social lives.....heh heh...

My phone is for outgoing calls only. If I wish to make a call, I simply unplug the modem and plug in the phone line.

If anyone wishes to phone me, they have to send me an email telling me what time to plug in the phone.

I never get sales calls. I never get wrong numbers. I never get interrupted while DUing or reading or cooking or taking a shower.

I have to PAY to have a telephone, and I'm not paying for something that is merely a way for others to try to make money by annoying me. I don't have a TV either. I live in senior housing and I've noticed that people with TVs and plugged-in phones tend to have high blood pressure. My tin foil hat is telling me there's a correlation.

:tinfoilhat:

[Renew Deal]

35. Maybe it's one of the sex offenders from the other thread.

[NightTrain]

36. Six years ago, my college radio station kept getting collect calls from...

...a prisoner. We weren't allowed to accept collect calls at the station, but it didn't stop that guy from calling incessantly. Eventually, we had to put a block on the number from which he called. :eyes:

[sundog]

39. Probably one of those punks who got tombstoned...

ya know how much they love ya...

[Misunderestimator]

40. LOL... Gee thanks for making me paranoid now...

:hi:

[sundog]

42. always happy to bring some sunshine to your day -

lol--:hi:

[Scurrilous]

43. TCG??

Could it have been TGK? TGK is a jail in Miami. Stands for TurnerGuilford-Knight. It's on Milam Dairy Road and 36th Street near Miami International Airport.

I've recieved these calls too. The inmates just run through every possible combination of telephone numbers hoping to get some sucker to bite. They obviously have way too much time on their hands.

[Misunderestimator]

46. It's definitely TCG Payphones.

[no_hypocrisy]

45. I got those type of calls all the time when I was a midnight operator at

an answering service.