Area code 876 - contest scam from Jamaica

[Kestrel]

Late yesterday afternoon I got a call from an unknown phone number with an 876 area code. This one actually left a prerecorded voicemail message:

"Hello, this is Mr. Michael Anderson from (mumble mumble) calling about an unclaimed prize you have in our contest. Congratulations. Please call at 876-568-9234."

Area code 876 turns out to be in Jamaica, which according to my cell phone provider is an overseas number not included in my plan. Calling that number costs about 50 cents a minute.

Apparently the Jamaican contest winner scam has been going on for a while. Both AARP and Publisher's Clearing House have posted articles warning about it. The contest is fake and the scammer tries to get you to pay up-front for a prize which doesn't exist.

I wonder if this is a resurrected version of the old 900 #/overseas # scam. The US victims would be deceived into calling a 900 number or overseas number. The calls would cost the victim an exhorbitant per-minute rate (undisclosed, of course), the victim would have to sit through a lengthy pre-recorded message at the beginning of the call, and the scammer would get a cut of the per-minute charges billed to the victim's phone.

[Arthur Rubin]

Late yesterday afternoon I got a call from an unknown phone number with an 876 area code. This one actually left a prerecorded voicemail message:

"Hello, this is Mr. Michael Anderson from (mumble mumble) calling about an unclaimed prize you have in our contest. Congratulations. Please call at 876-568-9234."
...
I wonder if this is a resurrected version of the old 900 #/overseas # scam.

It's a "subset" of the old 809 Area Code Scam. Now, most the Caribbean countries and colonies have their own area code, rather than all being in 809