Full Summary: In early October 1996, someone sent out spam* that tricked people into calling an 809 (Dominican Republic) phone number, and the callers were likely billed about $.50/minute *. About a week later, an organization called ScamBusters got a hold of this information, and reported* (incorrectly) that it could cost up to $25/minute and $100+ total. People passed this information on through chain letters, where $25 and $100 got turned into $2,425 and $24,100 (due to encoding and human error*). Everyone from the BBB to Attorney Generals got duped*, thinking something barely worthy of the term 'scam'* was a huge deal. There is no evidence* of anyone ever having complained about their phone bill from this! The hoax, on the other hand, causes huge problems*.

Statement about 809 Numbers	Status	Who fell for it?	Details (the original 'source' for every part of the hoax is the 1996 ScamBusters #8 article, and misinterpretations of it).
They can cost you 'as much as $25 per minute'	HOAX	Nebraska Attorney General	Hoax. The ScamBusters article incorrectly* stated 'you will apparently be charged $25 per-minute'. This figure was made up, presumably by one of the people that reported it to ScamBusters (and not the authors of ScamBusters). There is no evidence* of anyone having paid anywhere close to $25/minute for a call to the 809 area code.
They can cost '$25.00/minute and up'	HOAX	El Dorado County, CA Sherriff's Office	Hoax. The ScamBusters article incorrectly* stated 'you will apparently be charged $25 per-minute', which was then embellished by some random person to make it appear worse. The $25/minute figure was made up, presumably by one of the people that reported it to ScamBusters (and not the authors of ScamBusters). There is no evidence* of anyone having paid anywhere close to $25/minute for a call to the 809 area code.
They can result in bills 'oftentimes more than $100	HOAX	North Dakota Attorney General	Hoax. The ScamBusters article incorrectly* stated that it 'can easily cost you $100 or more'. This figure was made up, perhaps based on the thought of a 4-minute call at the made-up $25/minute rate. There is no evidence* that anyone has paid $100 or more for such a call.
They can result in 'telephone bills as high as $100 to $200'	HOAX	BBB	Hoax. The ScamBusters article incorrectly* stated that it 'can easily cost you $100 or more'. Someone embellished that bogus number to a range $100-$200. There is no evidence* that anyone has paid $100-$200 for such a call.
You 'will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute'	HOAX	California District Attorney	Hoax. The 'apparently be charged $25 per-minute $25' in the chain letter sometimes got displayed as 'apparently be charged =2425 per-minute', which people then interpreted (and 'corrected') to '$2,425'. Not only is there no evidence of this, it is completely inconceivable that such a rate could exist.
They can result being 'charged more than $24,100'	HOAX	Wyoming Attorney General	Hoax. The 'can easily cost you $100 or more' in the ScamBusters article sometimes got displayed as '=24100' (due to coding issues), which people then interpreted (and 'corrected') to '$24,100'. Not only is there no evidence of this, it is completely inconceivable that such a rate could exist.
They can be 'a pay-per-call service with a hefty up-front fee'	HOAX	Snopes	Hoax. The ScamBusters article incorrectly* claimed 'The 809 area code can be used as a pay-per-call number,' but pay-per-call is a flat rate per call, which cannot occur* with international long distance calls.
This scam is 'spreading extremely quickly'	HOAX	Chicago Police Department	Hoax. The ScamBusters article stated that '[the scam is] spreading *extremely* quickly'. While the chain letter spread quickly, there are only confirmed reports of a dozen or so people* that may have fallen for the scam (there may well be plenty more that didn't bother reported it due to the small amount they were charged).

Unraveling the Hoax and Proving it

The truth is that there is just one source for that $25/minute amount: The original ScamBusters article, which said "apparently be charged $25 per-minute." Their alert went out on 07 Oct 1996, 5 days after the scam started, so nobody had gotten a phone bill yet. Their alert was based on reports from 2 people, and quoted no sources for any of their information. Five days later, they issued a new alert, mentioning "reportedly up to $25 per minute." So their story changed from a flat rate per call to a variable rate.

On 21 Nov 1996 (6 weeks after the scam started), Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune said that the $25 figure was a 'wild error', and that you are billed standard international rates. The truth is that it cost people about $.50/minute to make the call back in 1996. On 12 Jan 1997, an intelligent Usenet poster claims that he for 6 months requested that anyone with proof of 809 calls cost more than the normal international rate to let him know; nobody responded. We also sent an E-mail to the one of the authors of the original ScamBusters article, asking if he had any evidence that anyone ever paid more than the standard international rate. No response. A reputable website has requested evidence of surchages for 8 years, with no takers.

So it seems very clear that the $25/minute that all the hoaxes are based on was completely made-up, most likely to try to get people to hype the ScamBusters article. A good job they did!

Who Perpetrates the Hoax?

If you really want to report on the scam

• Do NOT just mention area code 809. Mention all area codes that could result in international long distance rates.
• Do NOT mention any specific information without backing it up. e.g. do not say 'Calls can cost as much as $25/minute'.
• Do NOT mention vague information that cannot be backed up ('This is spreading rapidly', 'Lots of people have been victims', 'high phone bill', etc.).
• Do NOT imply that this is 'pay-per-call' or that extra charges, surcharges, or fees apply beyond long distance rates.
• DO make it clear that people falling for the scam will just pay standard international rates of about $.25/minute.
• DO make it clear that there is absolutely no reason not to call people or businesses you know in any country (assuming you know what the standard rate is)
• DO distinguish between the scam in the chain letters (where someone cons you into calling an 809 number, and there is no benefit to the call) from the 'quasi-legitimate' scams such as Mystery Shopping ads that would appear in newspapers, where people actually did get information they wanted (but complained for various reasons). They are very different scams.

Boos to:

• AT&T - They get a ton of free publicity from the hoax, as many people use their page to 'prove' that the hoax is real. They do admit that the costs are highly exaggerated (but still claims there are 'high charges'). They don't admit that court documents (see p110) show that AT&T received 90% of the money for the printed version of the '809 scam'. Update the page to make sure that people can't accidentally use it as 'proof' that the chain letter is real.
• ScamBusters - They've gotten a ton of free publicity from the hoax that they helped start! Their page is still used as 'proof' that the hoax is real. They still suggest that the $25/minute rate they made up might be accurate. Just admit that there is no evidence that anyone ever paid huge sums of money, accept that you got tons of free publicity for 13 years, and be done with it.
• FCC - They are sometimes used as 'proof' of the hoax. They need to revise their article, removing the hoax pieces, and making sure people aren't going to accidentally use it as 'proof' that their chain letter is real.
• BBB - They are sometimes used as 'proof' of the hoax. They need to revise their article, removing the hoax pieces, and making sure people aren't going to accidentally use it as 'proof' that their chain letter is real.

Specifics...

In 1996 it only cost about $.50/minute to call the 809 area code

For example: $.46/minute (soc.culture.dominican-rep 23 May 1996), $.46/minute (biz.marketplace.non-computer 14 Oct 1996), $.47/minute (ca.forsale 27 Aug 1997), $.52/minute (biz.marketplace.services.non-computer 07 Nov 1996), $.52/minute (soc.culture.hongkong, 26 Nov 1996).

There has been no evidence that anyone paid anywhere close to $25/minute. Even if they did, the long distance phone company (who the person being scammed chose) would have pocketed the $24+/minute over the normal rates!

In 2009 it costs about $.25/minute to call the 809 area code

AT&T: $.24/minute (U-verse International Calling).
Charter: $.25/minute
Qwest: $.25 (using Broadband Phone Service)
Verizon: $.18 to $.47/minute

These scams are rare today

Then, there's Ask Andy. He says that he helped investigate this in 1998, and he is not aware of any such scam since then (as of the report, dated 13 Mar 2009).

The only reports we could find were: [1] Per that Ask Andy article, there were about a dozen people targeted in North Mississipi in or before 1998, and [2] A college student that reported it to the campus police (after he called, before he got the bill; he only reported it because he saw an article suggesting he might be paying a high rate), [3] The Missouri Attorney General says that a senior citizen got the message and called, but doesn't remember if he got an extra charge on his phone bill.

Originals

• The original 02 Oct 1996 E-mail from the scammer
• The original 07 Oct 1996 ScamBusters #8
• The original 09 Oct 1996 Money Daily
• The original 12 Oct 1996 ScamBusters #9
• Perhaps the original Pretty Scary chain letter

If people got scammed, they never complained

What this really means is that anyone using terms like 'exorbinant rates', 'high phone bill', 'outrageous', 'surcharge', 'pay-per-call', etc. are perpetrating scarelore.

Note that there are people who have called 809 numbers and complained about the rates -- but those have nothing to do with this scam (e.g. 'Mystery Shopper' ads where people usually knew they were paying an international rate, and getting information they were willing to pay for).

Encoding and Human Errors Changed $25 to $2,425 and $100 to $24,100

Mail clients not understand quoted-printable encoding would display 'charged $25 per-minute' as 'charged =2425 per-minute' and the 'often be charged more than $100.00' to 'often be charged more than #24100.00'. People then used human error to 'fix' those to 'charged $2,425 per-minute' and 'often be charged more than $24,100.00'.

It is barely worthy of the term 'scam'

There are almost no reports of people having fallen for this*, because people didn't even bother reporting the $5 or so they lost, because they knew they were paying it when they made the call.

Finally, given the huge cost of the 809 hoax, any mentions of the small truth of the scam help perpetuate the hoax.

Nobody got a $100 phone bill

Would anyone spend over 3 hours on the phone to someone as a result of this scam?

Of course, there is also no evidence suggesting that anyone paid $25/minute or $100/call.

The hoax is very costly

• instills fear
• damages the people and businesses in the country involved
• wastes people's time: reading the hoax, thinking about it, forwarding it, blogging/posting it, etc.
• lowers the quality of the Internet
• wastes bandwidth
• wastes the resources (and damaged the credibility of) countless police departments, attorneys general, and other otherwise helpful sources of preventing people from falling for scams.

People never paid more than the standard international rate (no surcharges, pay-per-call)

On 21 Nov 1996 (6 weeks after the scam started), Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune said that the $25 figure was a 'wild error', and that you are billed standard international rates.

On 12 Jan 1997, an intelligent Usenet poster claimed that he had for 6 months been requesting proof of 809 calls costing more than the normal international rate; nobody responded.

On 22 Oct 2009, we sent an E-mail to the one of the authors of the original ScamBusters article, asking if he had any evidence that anyone ever paid more than the standard international rate. No response.

Since 30 Dec 2000, the LincMad website has had a challenge that proves that there are no surcharges for calling 809 numbers above the normal cost to call any 809 number.

Misc. Information

• o Information Providers could could get $.16/minute per this Usenet post.
• o Information Providers (IPs) would get $.20 to $.35/minute (15 Jun 1996 Usenet post) [http://groups.google.com/group/news.admin.net-abuse.misc/browse_thread/thread/33f9090b763bf486/cba8bef3181e5ffd]
• o Calls to quasi-legitimate 809 numbers would generate $.20/minute to 'lessee' of the # in 1994-1996 per p37 of an FTC Court Document, and less than $.20 to the U.S. company providing the 809 number per p43.
• o Calls to 809 area code 'as little as $.33/minute' in 1994
• o Calls to 809 numbers are at a cost determined by the long distance carrier in 1994-1996 per the FTC Court Document p81.
• o Calls to 809 numbers could not result in the lessee of the 809 number getting a chargeback in 1994-1996 per p82 of the FTC Court Document.
• o Calls to 809 numbers in newspaper scams in 1995 show NO EVIDENCE of being billed at greater than normal international rates, per the FTC Court Document.
• o 11 Oct 1996 Usenet post by a reputable person that call are probably just ~$1/minute.
• o fraud.org (National Fraud Information Center) does not have anything on their website suggesting that any of this is true
• As of 22 Oct 2009, Google reports 178,000 hits for '809 scam'.
• o 29 Attorneys General urged the FTC to crack down on 809 (and other) pay-per-call's -- but that was exclusively U.S. based, not scams (e.g. they want ads to list rate, etc.).
• o We have found no evidence that any United States organization or Attorney General's office has ever investigated these '809 scams' (with the exception of ads placed by seemingly legitimate and traceable U.S. companies).
• Mercer County, OH Sheriff in 2004 said he does not recall any known cases of people losing money to these scams
• Apparently, you were told you were scammed at the end of the call, per a campus police report
• The hoax may have appeared in Money Magazine (per the campus police report), but he probably meant Money Daily.
• On 06 Jan 1997 a Mystery Shopper caller to Dominican republic (not this scam) was charged $39 for a 28 minute call [$1.39/minute]
• A Rice University student fell for it on or before 01 Nov 1996, and charges 'could run as high as $25 per minute', but he 'hasn't received his bill yet.'
• How it worked: going back as far as 1994, there is information showing that calls to 809 were as little as $.33, of which $.16 could go to the scammer (this article referred to adult chat lines, which work the same way).