Palisades Residents Report *72 Phone Scam

On New Year's Eve, a Palisadian told Patch he and his family were awakened at 3 a.m. by a phone call. It was a robotic voice, stating that someone he knew was in the Los Angeles County jail.

"I listened closely to the message as my wife went to see if the boys were in their beds, and they were," recounted the Palisadian, who wished to remain anonymous.

The Palisadian said a person then came on the line and told him to call a phone number and ask for Terry Evans, an officer on duty. As the person read off the phone number, the voice instructed the Palisadian to dial *72 prior to entering the phone number. The Palisadian said his wife immediately got on the Internet and found information about a *72 phone scam that had been coming from inmates in the Los Angeles County jail.

What this Palisadian experienced is not something new to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. According to Captain Michael Parker, it is a scam the department has dealt with for about six years. It just tends to come in waves. Parker said the department puts out a public notice about the scam roughly twice a year.

"We've even gotten the calls at headquarters," Parker told Pali Patch.

Here's how the *72 scam works. The *72 feature is a service set up by phone providers to allow a customer to forward his or her calls. Knowing this, an inmate wishing to receive free calls dials random numbers hoping to lure someone into activating the call forwarding feature by hitting *72, said Parker. Once activated, all future calls will go to the inmate and the resident ends up footing the bill.

"You could do this 100 times, but all you need is one person," said Parker, who went on to say that people who do fall for the scam don't realize it until they receive their bill.

Parker told Patch that inmates are calling collect, which explains the recorded voice residents have reported hearing when they pick up the phone.

Residents have also reported that the person on the other line directs them to call a particular officer on duty. Parker said that, more often than not, the inmate picks a name out of a hat and plays on the kind hearts of residents.

"Most calls we get, they are perplexed rather than reporting that someone scammed them. They are genuinely trying to help," said Parker.

Since the incident, the Palisadian who reported the scam to Patch said he heard two other families in the Palisades have received similar calls. Unfortunately, one person even handed over personal information. So, Parker says the best thing residents can do is be vigilant.

"The nicer the person is on the phone, the scammer is more likely to take them for everything they can," said Parker.

A few tips Parker offered up are:

• Never comply with a caller who asks you to dial *72 before calling them back.
• Ask for a number to call the person back. A true officer or deputy will not hesitate to give you a legitimate phone number ... without having dialing *72 first.
• Most law enforcement officials will not call you collect.

"In my 27-year career, I've never made an official law enforcement call collect," said Parker.

If you think you have been scammed, you should contact California Public Utilities Commission’s consumer hotline at 800-649-7570.

• For more information from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, click here.
• For information from the California Public Utilities Commission, click here.