The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has received numerous telephone calls from alarmed citizens that have received messages stating that there has been a serious, sometimes fatal accident on a highway, and that their phone number was listed on a cell phone found inside the vehicle involved in the crash. They are then instructed to dial an exact sequence of numbers beginning with *72.

According to AT&T, *72 is a custom feature for call forwarding. When a
customer dials *72 followed by a telephone number, the call forwarding feature is activated, causing all of the customer’s incoming calls to ring to another number. These calls can be forwarded to a land line or pay phone, and even override the inability of cell phones to accept collect calls. A third party will accept the charges for these calls, and they will be billed back to you, because your telephone number is where the forwarded calls originated. You may not even realize what has happened for several days.

This latest scam is occurring in other states as well. If you receive one of these calls, do not call the number you are given. Please report these calls to your local law enforcement agency.