Sheriff warns residents of Star 72 phone scam in which a caller tries to get you to forward calls and ultimately you owe the bill for calls made

Imagine relaxing at home and you get a call from a polite-sounding person who claims to be a police officer and informs you a relative or friend has been injured in another city. They tell you to call their superior officer for more details, asking you to dial *72 on your phone and then enter other numbers.

Would you be panicked and dial the number?

If you do you could end up owing a lot of money to your phone company because it could be a scheme in which someone else can make unlimited calls charged to your phone number.

A St. Bernard Parish resident who didn’t fall for the trick reported a recent scam attempt.

Sheriff James Pohlmann is warning residents to be aware of what is being called the Star 72 scam that has been going on around the nation, frequently originating with inmates calling from a prison and then using an unsuspecting person’s phone number to make unlimited calls.

The number they tell you to call always has Star 72 at the beginning. If you dial *72 and then a number, you are actually transferring your phone over to a scammer.

Some of these could be international calls that could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The sheriff said, “Never enter *72 into your phone unless you fully intend to transfer your phone to another location.’’

“And If you get a call from someone you don’t know asking you to forward your phone to another number you should hang up,’’ Sheriff Pohlmann said/ “Next you should report that number you are told to call to the Sheriff’s Office at (504) 271-2501 to make a report of the scam attempt.”

If you learn you have been tricked you can shut off the transfer of your phone by pushing *73, then immediately call your phone company to report the problem, the sheriff said.

Some phone companies may try to hold you liable for the charges, so getting a police report from the Sheriff’s Office to verify your complaint could be vital in preventing you from being charged.

For more information, go online and use a search engine to look up Star 72 scam.

CBS News has reported that one 15-year-old girl who thought she was helping out someone who called her family phone ended up with a $160 charge on her parents’ phone bill because she agreed to forward a call for a stranger. The man, according to CBS News, turned out to be an inmate from Dallas County Jail who told the girl he had called her accidentally while trying to reach his mother. He asked that since he only got one phone call, could she forward the call to his mother — by dialing *72.

Pressing *72 or 72# activates a call-forwarding feature on phones. Every call made to your number from then on will be forwarded to a pay phone or other involved third party. However, you are responsible for the charges incurred because the calls are being forwarded from your number.

This scam has been going on around the country and involves not only inmates but also everyday con artists. According to the CBS News report, “The problem is rampant. In Florida, at least two inmates racked up more than $50,000 worth of collect calls to more than a hundred families.”

As described by AT&T, the *72 scam works like this:

“Star-7-2 is a custom feature for call-forwarding. When the customer dials *72 followed by a telephone number, it activates the call -forwarding feature causing all your incoming calls to ring at another number.

At the end of the other line — whether calls have been forwarded to a landline, a cell phone or a payphone — the original caller’s partner-in-crime is able to accept all collect and third-party calls, while telling your own legitimate callers that they have the wrong number. You get billed for all calls made because your number is the one from which they are forwarded.”

Scammers use the following scenarios most often as they try to play to the sympathies of their victim:

• An inmate calling and saying he or she needs you to call their mother for them (they say they called you “accidentally” and say they can’t make another call).

• An inmate calling and saying he was arrested for a minor traffic ticket and needs to call a relative to pick up his children from the police station (again, calling you “accidentally).

• Someone calling and pretending to be a phone-company technician who needs to check your phone line for a problem. In order to receive “remote access,” they ask the victim to input a code of *72 or 72#.

• A person calling and impersonating a police officer, telling the victim a relative or close friend has been injured in an auto accident. In order to find out more information, the con artist says, the victim must call another officer by pressing *72 followed by another phone number.

• A person calling from a payphone and saying they don’t have the additional change needed to make an emergency call, then asking you to forward their call.