There is a new scam sweeping across the country and it involves receiving a call on your cellphone from an unknown phone number.  If you get a call on your cell phone from an unknown number, and it only rings once and hangs up.  DO NOT CALL THE NUMBER BACK.

I'm guilty of calling numbers back from time to time, I think it's primarily the curiosity of - who was that?  You might be tempted, thinking it's a fantastic job offer, a long-lost friend, a super-hot girl or guy from the bar you once gave your number to, or maybe it's Publisher's Clearing House.  But, it's not.

Apparently, scammers in the Caribbean have a computer that calls thousands of random cell phone numbers, then disconnects after one ring.  And the phone number it's coming from looks like a local number.

But when you call the number back, it's secretly an international call.  Your phone will get charged $19.95 to make the connection, then $9-per-minute.  Assuming you hang up in less than a minute, that's $28.95 extra on your next cell phone bill.

I'm not entirely clear how this works for the guys running the scam and how they get that money, or what kind of tricks they're using to make this work.  But, the Better Business Bureau is on it, which gives the threat some credibility.

Source: Consumerist

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