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Federal Trade Commission says you should never call back numbers in these area codes: 268 area code – Antigua and Barbuda 284 area code – British ****** Islands 473 area code – Gre***a, Carriacou and Pe***e Martinique 664 area code – Montserrat 649 area code – Turks and Caicos Islands 767 area code – Commonwealth of Dominica 809, 829, 849 area codes – Dominican Republic 876 area code – Jamaica When an unfamiliar number comes in, you’re better off waiting for a voicemail to determine if you have a legitimate caller before calling it back. You can also Google the phone number itself. If the number is a scam, chances are good that others will have posted warnings about it. How to Stop Robocalls As you can see, the scammer numbers come in all flavors and from far afield. Fortunately, technology is riding to the rescue to save consumers from the nearly 59 billion robocalls that went out in 2019, according to the YouMail Robocall Index. All the major wireless carriers make some kind robocall blocking functionality available for their customers.

With inflated call volumes, the rural carriers can then bill the wireless and long distance companies an exorbitant amount and give the chat lines a kickback. That’s what traffic pumping is. Unfortunately, the burden of the higher charge is shared by your wireless or landline provider with you — hence the warning about paying more that you hear at the s**** of an out-of-plan call. If you **** up before the call connects, you’re billed nothing. Area codes that parti****te in traffic pumping are typically located in scarcely populated rural parts of a couple of Midwestern states. These two area codes, in particular, are notorious for traffic pumping: 712 area code – Western Iowa 218 area code – Northern Minnesota The One-Ring Scam A separate but similar scam is the one-ring cell phone scam. In this scam, crooks use robocalling technology to place internet calls that only ring once to cell phones. If you pick up, the robocaller just drops the line. But the bigger danger is if you miss the call. Like many people, you might think it’s an important call and dial that number right back. Bad move. Turns out the area codes are largely located in the Caribbean and could cost you $15 to ******tween international fees and per-minute charges!

I believe this is a scammer because he continues to ask for money and tried to tell me he is in Russia, but never charged for an international call when we spoke