The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is warning area residents not to respond to telephone messages asking for return calls to numbers beginning with *72.
Capt. Chris West, OHP Public Information, said residents are being targeted by scam artists who leave telephone messages identifying themselves as a member of OHP. The caller says there has been a serious or fatal accident and they are calling the victim’s number because it was listed on a cell phone found in the wreckage. The message instructs the intended victim to dial a number that starts with *72.
West said *72 numbers are not used by OHP and the calls are not from troopers or OHP personnel.
According to West, information provided by AT&T indicates *72 is a custom feature for call forwarding. When a customer dials a number starting with *72 call forwarding is activated. Activation can override the inability of cell phones to accept collect calls.
West said the scam is being operated in several states and “It is against the law.”
However, OHP is not the proper agency to investigate such crimes and does not have the ability to conduct a combined statewide investigative effort with the 300 plus local law enforcement agencies in the state. And while individual local law enforcement agencies can take reports concerning these types of scams, jurisdictional issues arise if the con artist is conducting the scam from another area.
A poll of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies indicate anyone receiving such a call should not respond. Report the incident to your telephone carrier. In turn, the telephone company will contact the proper authorities.
