I was told that there are certain #'s in the bahama's whereby they
charge you a fortune for calling it. I would like a list of those #'s
so I make sure I don't call them.

pinky10211021

What you are referring to is a scam that has been running around the
internet for several years known as the 809 scam.  The email says not
to call any number with an 809 area code because it is acutally a
number to the Caribbean that can charge upwards of $25 a minute.
Supposedly, an email or phone mail message may state that you have won
a valuable prize and to all a number with the 809 area code and they
keep you on the phone as long as possible to get the per-minute
charges up and there have been records of calls up to $10,000.  This
has been going around the Internet for quite awhile.  So long,
acutally, that area code changes have made this scam obsolete.

The 809 area code is actually for the Dominican Republic.  So, if you
were to make a call there, yes, it would probably be an expensive
call, but not in the numbers perpetrated in the scam.  The key reason
it work(ed) was that with the 809 code, as with all long distance
calls to the Caribbean and Canada,  there is no need for the
international calling number, 011, to be dialed to reach the number in
question. The following area codes in the Caribbean can be dialed
without the 011 prefix:
264 Anguilla
268 Antigua & Barbuda
242 Bahamas BHA 
246 Barbados
441 Bermuda (Atlantic)
284 British Virgin Islands
345 Cayman Islands
767 Dominica ROS 
809 Dominican Republic 
473 Grenada & Carriacou
876 Jamaica   
664 Montserrat MO I
787 Puerto Rico [*] PT R
869 St. Kitts & Nevis
758 St. Lucia S LU 
784 St. Vincent & the Grenadines SVG 
868 Trinidad & Tobago T'n'T 
649 Turks & Caicos Islands 
340 U.S. Virgin Islands 

The bottom line is this:  If you don't recognize the number or the
area code, either check with your local operator of where the area
code terminates or simply don't make the call.

For more information on these types of hoaxes, you can visit
http://www.lincmad.com/telesleaze.html

Thanks for the question and if you need any further clarification,
please let me know.

Regards,

-THV

Search Strategy:
Long distance scam
809 scam

References:
Caribbean Area Codes
http://www.lincmad.com/caribbean.html

809 Area Code Scam is Real
http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2651153,00.html

---

Request for Answer Clarification by pinky10211021-ga on 24 Nov 2002 22:57 PST

Can't you give me at least 5 #'s that will charge you a fortune, I may
try it just to see what happens.

---

Clarification of Answer by tar_heel_v-ga on 25 Nov 2002 17:56 PST

pinky10211021..

I am sorry but I do not have access to any numbers that supposedly
create the results you are talking about.  A primary reason I can't
provide any is that to ensure they do charge the amount they are
reported to, I would have to call them and while I am very positive
that the 809 numbers do not charge these outrageous amounts, there
would be international long distance charges involved which, while not
running in the 1000's of dollars reported by the scam, the calls could
very well end up being very expensive.

If you need anything further, please let me know.

Regards,

-THV

Apparently the asker has access to someone's phone and would like to
make some large fees appear on their bill. Am I right?

Hee hee! What a subtle way of phrasing the question...