Times Staff Report

LANSING | Village police are warning residents about a phone scam that allows callers to gain control of an unsuspecting victim's telephone.

During the last week to 10 days, about a half-dozen people have reported receiving collect calls from Cook County jail inmates who pose as county employees before asking the victim to enter a sequence of numbers that allows the caller to gain control of the phone line to make long-distance and collect calls on the victim's dime.

"Anyone receiving a collect call from Cook County Jail is cautioned not to accept the call unless they are sure someone they know is trying to contact them," Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said. "If a citizen does accept a call and the inmate attempts to get personal information or urges you to call another phone number, you should hang up immediately and report the incident to the authorities."

According to investigators, the inmates conducting the scam call random numbers collect and pose as police officers stationed at the jail. They then tell the individual who answers the telephone that a member of their family has been in an accident and in order to get more information the victim must dial a series of numbers.

If the victim calls the number as instructed, they will transfer their telephone number to a call-forwarding service, which enables the inmate to charge the victim's phone account with future collect calls.

Nearly all inmates at the Cook County Jail are held on a pretrial basis and have not yet been convicted of a crime. Because of their pretrial status, the inmates are permitted to make collect telephone calls.

Anyone receiving harassing telephone calls from the Cook County Jail can contact SBC at (800) 984-8800 and request a block on their telephone number that will prevent calls from the pay phones located inside the jail.