The 9-0# Scam

If you work at a business that requires you to dial 9 to get an outside line, be mindful of this scam.

Who Is It Targeting: Businesses with multi-line phone systems

What Is It: A phishing scam that lets outsiders use your phone system to make expensive calls.

What Are They After: According to Verizon, scammers call a business and pose as employees of their phone system. They claim to be conducting a check of the line, and ask the receptionist to dial nine, then press zero, then simply hang up. Once the employee hangs up, the scammer uses the code to connect to an outside line through the company’s network. Then they place a call to anywhere in the world, piggybacking off the company’s outside line and billing it to the company.

How Can You Avoid It:

• Never agree to dial or give access to the phone system to an outside caller.
• Regardless of the scenario, never agree to perform any actions based on a caller’s instructions without verifying the authenticity for yourself.

Find more information about current scams and alerts here. For full details of this scam check out this article from Verizon.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530.