Don't return calls from these area codes -- it's a scam!

A scam that repeats itself in modified forms every few years is once again spreading throughout the United Sates. Don’t be a victim!

Criminals target people simply by calling them. Intended victims receive a call on their phones from area code 473 which rings once and then disconnects, thereby arousing the call-recipient’s natural curiosity – “who just called me and from where?” Sometimes the caller actually allows the phone to ring long enough for the victim to answer -- after which the caller (or the caller’s robocaller system) makes groaning sounds or otherwise indicates that he or she is in distress and then hangs up, enticing the victim to wonder what is going on and call back.

If either of these happens to you – don’t call back....



While 809, 473, 284, 649 and 876, may be the primary sources of the current danger, here is a list of (non-Canadian) area codes that are international. All but a few are relatively new, having been split off from 809 in the late 1990s.

242- Bahamas
246 – Barbados
264 – Anguilla
268 – Antigua
284 – British Virgin Islands
345 – Cayman Islands
441 – Bermuda
473 – Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique
649 – Turks and Caicos
664 – Montserrat
758 – St Lucia
767 – Dominica
784 - St. Vincent & Grenadines
809, 829, 849 – Dominican Republic
868 - Trinidad and Tobago
876 - Jamaica
869 - St. Kitts & Nevis

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