News Releases

Beware unsolicited phone calls

This is a news article published on the Amherst News Times.
Written by the Public Relations Manager at CenturyTel

To the editor:

    CenturyTel has been receiving many calls from customers inquiring about the *72 call forwarding feature. Recent repair ticket patterns indicate a high use of *72, the calling feature that forwards incoming calls to a number specified by the customer.

Locally, we have received calls related to recent phone calls from the prisons. Inmates randomly call numbers in our serving area. When a customer answers, they ask the unsuspecting per­son if they could please help them reach a loved one. The caller asks the customer to just dial *72 and a particular phone num­ber for them. When a customer presses *72 and dials a phone number, they forward their phone number to that phone number. The phone number is, many times, a long distance phone num­ber, and the customer incurs these long distance charges on his/her phone bill.

Each time the person at the prison wants to reach that phone number, they call our customer's local phone number that has been call forwarded to the long distance number they wish to reach. Our customer is billed the long distance charges. Similarly, every time anyone calls the customer, they are for­warded to the long distance phone number. The customer pays for all these calls, many times long distance calls, until the call-forwarding feature is deactivated. .

In other areas, some CenturyTel customers have received a call with an automated message advising them of an injury or death to a family member, and asking them to dial a long distance phone number that begins with *72. By dialing *72 and the phone number, the customer activates the call-forwarding feature on their line. This has resulted in long distance charges on the bill.                      

The operation of the call forwarding feature is the same regardless of whether the customer is a monthly subscriber or activates it on a per-use basis. Call forwarding can be deactivated by pressing *73 to clear the phone line. Customers should also know that the call forwarding feature can also be activated by simply pressing 72#.

We strongly encourage our customers to exercise extreme caution when accepting collect calls, forwarding calls, and pressing * and numbers. Please refer to the CenturyTel Directory Residential Service Calling Features and Services on Page 17. This page fully explains the features and how it they can be activated or deactivated.  

 CenturyTel would like to remind customers to know who they are talking to before they release personal information and to not perform any functions unfamiliar to them on either their phone or Internet line.

CenturyTel offers a diversified array of telecommunications services to our customers including local, long distance, dial-up and DSL high speed Internet, and data services to more than 3 million customers in 22 states. Calling, Plans, Calling Instructions, Calling Features and Services, and Business Services are outlined and explained in our 2004/04 CenturyTel Directory on Pages 14-22. These services offer our customers many choices and features to make their lives simpler and safer ranging from Call Waiting, to Caller ID, to Call Trace. CenturyTel is proud to provide vital communications services that help customers grow their businesses and communities, CenturyTel provides and markets services that make a positive contribution to the quality of life and economic health of the customers and communities we serve.

                 Joanette N. Romero Public Relations manager, CenturyTel