Texas Inmates Bilk Residents With Jail Phone Scam

HOUSTON — A Texas telephone provider is warning its customers to beware of a scam involving inmates at the Harris County Jail that capitalizes on a loophole in the jail’s phone system.

Comcast says some inmates at the jail call a random phone number and claim to have dialed the wrong number when the call is received. The inmate then asks the person to forward the call to an accomplice, by dialing *72 before the forwarding phone number. The accomplice at the forwarded number can then make hundreds of dollars in long-distance calls that are billed to the person who was originally called from the jail phone.

Victims typically do not know they are being scammed until they realize their phone has stopped ringing for an extended time, or until they see charges on their phone bills.

It is difficult for law enforcement to identify inmates who make the call because calls often occur in a housing unit with 20 to 30 inmates, according to officials.

Comcast customers received a recorded message warning them of the scam and to not accept collect calls from inmates. Verizon and AT&T have reported similar scams nationwide.

Telephone company representatives advise people to hang up the phone if they are suspicious of a caller, and if a person thinks he or she is a victim of the *72 scam, dial *73 to cancel the forwarded call.