473-520-9767
Grenada, GRENADA
Vince
Vince
2014-01-02 03:39:49
Unknown
Just got a call from this number. Caller H/U after a short ring
unknown
LifeWithDanieL
LifeWithDanieL
2014-01-02 01:45:39
Unknown
Got a call today around 2:00pm this afternoon from 473-520-9767.  I get stupid calls every month at the least once.  I am sick and tired of it.  I don't pay monthly for my cellphone service to receive random unknown numbers in or out of the United States.
ANonieMouse
ANonieMouse
2014-01-01 19:56:47
Unknown
473 "AREA CODE" WARNING -- DO NOT RETURN DIAL ONE RING CALLS RECEIVED FROM AREA CODE 473 !!!!!!

In the current variant of this scam, the caller doesn't have any intention of talking to you. All the scammer wants is for you to get upset enough about the late night call that you return the call, never even noticing that it is from a foreign country outside the reach of US or Canadian laws. When you return the call (at international rates), there may also be a big surcharge added to your phone bill that gets passed along to the scammer.

What appears to have been the original version of the scam surfaced about 11 years ago in Japan and is known as the "Wangiri scam:"

From Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2002/08/21/n ... r/#.Ur2543-9KSN

From the Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/1367988

A few U.S. news organizations, but not many, have picked up on this latest variant:

KPVI, Pocatello, ID TV report on Grenada phone scam
http://youtu.be/eSp9tY1gBW8

From Toledo News Now
http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/23695832/b ... huge-phone-bill

I don't think this problem is limited to or has anything to do with Verizon.  The same problem has been reported on other carriers, I believe, but Verizon Wireless appears to be the biggest carrier, so they get the most calls.  Verizon has a discussion board set up with at least one thread concerning "473" calls:

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1035009

It appears that at least Verizon is devoting some resources to stop these callers or at least refund some or all of the charges for people who call these numbers.  How long that will last is known only to Verizon, and even they may not have decided at this point.  Other carriers may also be doing the same.  They all want to avoid bad publicity that may drive away customers, of course.

At least one early report on 800notes.com, if taken at face value, asserted that a charge of $100.00 was made to a phone bill for calling back for 15 seconds.  Even regular calls to 473 numbers are billed at upwards of $1.80 per minute by most cell phone carriers, even on so-called "unlimited" phone plans, unless you have paid extra for an international dialing plan.  It may be that the scammers get a cut of this money for every international call they receive.

That's why either:
(1) you can't return the phone call, because even though you would otherwise be able to dial it like an ordinary long distance number, you phone company has a restriction on your placing international calls (which these are).  At least some pre-paid cell phone services work this way.  If this case applies to you, consider yourself lucky. Or,
(2) when you call back and get through, the operator of the 473 phone number tries to keep you on hold for as long as possible to run up your phone bill and their profits.

The scammers don't have to be associated with recent security breaches, such as the recent one at Target stores.  (In fact, many of the victims of this scam say that they either don't shop at Target or did not shop there during the period of the known security breach.)  All the scammers have to do is randomly dial a lot of telephone numbers in already-assigned area codes. And they must be dialing a LOT of them based on the complaints logged to 800notes.

It probably doesn't cost them anything to dial you, either, if the called party (you) doesn't pick up the call before they hang up. It only takes a small percentage of angry and/or curious people calling back for them to make a lot of money. They don't even have to pay for real people to operate a call center -- it's all done by machines, outside the reach of US and Canadian law enforcement.

So do yourself a favor and don't call these scammers back.  And you'll also be doing us all a favor, because they wouldn't call anyone at all if there weren't so many people who fell for this scam.
Clint
Clint
2014-01-01 18:16:56
Unknown
Received call on my cell, did not return call, did a reverse phone locator and found the call originated in Gn, (Grenada), Is Noraga still in jail . Do not return call to 473 520 9767
susan
susan
2014-01-01 16:09:58
Unknown
number is bogest
pc
pc
2013-12-30 19:42:01
Unknown
called at 0338 hrs. rang twice and then hung up
jean
jean
2013-12-30 17:20:51
Unknown
Got the call but didnt answer.  Didn't recognize the number or area code.  Glad I didn't after reading here.
SF
SF
2013-12-30 15:06:31
Unknown
the call came in at 4:17 a.m.  didn't hear it ring - just saw a missed call.  Did not call it back - googled it and found this.  Thank you
Donna
Donna
2013-12-30 14:22:57
Unknown
i got a call last night 11:40 pm and tried to recall but the message on my cell said number was restricted check the number again. i tried to call from the house phone and it rings busy.
into-the-mystic
into-the-mystic
2013-12-29 17:03:02
Unknown
Read ANonieMouse's thread about this scam:

http://800notes.com/forum/ta-91e20993bc3aa22/ ... m-473-area-code
crystal
crystal
2013-12-29 16:55:21
Unknown
I got a call last night around  1:20.  I was asleep and missed it.
andy
andy
2013-12-29 16:48:52
Unknown
I called back and waited while it said please wait for operator.. long time. Dang..
JT
JT
2013-12-29 03:36:44
Unknown
Call is from Grenada. If you call back you will be charged per minute.
lyndsey
lyndsey
2013-12-28 17:46:50
Unknown
I got a call at 2am. I was fast asleep and missed it.
brian
brian
2013-12-27 12:42:36
Unknown
Got a call at 4 am called back got message and music saying please wait
Shane
Shane
2013-12-26 05:50:04
Unknown
Got a call Christmas day. About 8:30pm. Did not recognize number, so I didn't answer. Tried to call back later though, and got a busy signal.
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