Here's a piece from the about.com urban legends site about the 809 scam:
809 Area Code Phone Scam
08/05/99 - Various alerts are now circulating warning
consumers not to comply with phone, pager or email
requests
to dial numbers beginning with the 809 area code to
"settle an
unpaid account" or "collect a wonderful prize," etc.
According to these alerts, the area code is in the
Caribbean
and can be set up as a "pay-per-call" number (like 900
numbers in the U.S.). People who respond to these
requests
can get stuck with whopping phone bills for
international call.
This information is basically true. The email warnings
originated from an article published several years ago
in
"Internet ScamBusters," a respectable newsletter that
keeps
subscribers apprised of current frauds and scams. A more
recent AT&T publication confirms that the scam is real
and
still active.
Multiple versions of the email exist because people can
and
do alter such texts before forwarding them on, which
means
any specific message you receive may or may not contain
accurate details.
For that reason, recipients are best advised not to
forward the
email warnings, but rather share the URL of this updated
article from the original source:
http://www.scambusters.org/809Scam.html
UPDATE: Why was this 1996 alert revived years later?
Netlore watcher David Spalding ventures a theory in Hoax
du
Jour.
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Deb Messling =^..^=
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