By Our thanks to the Commerce Police Department for providing us with the following information.
Hunt County – Commerce Police want to warn citizens of a call forwarding scam that is occurring in the Commerce area where the suspects are posing as police officers.
The suspects are making calls telling the resident that a family member has been involved in an accident. They are requesting the resident return a call to a DPS Trooper or Police Sergeant. The number they are giving begins with *72. The *72 allows the suspect to utilize your phone number to make calls and charge to your phone number. This is called the "Jailhouse *72 Phone Scam". It has been around for several years, and is starting to surface in the Commerce area. The caller ID of the phone number being used now shows to be a prison in Chicago, however the caller is using the Houston area as the origin of the calls.
Commerce Police urge you NOT to use *72 unless you are fully aware of who you are talking to and wish for your phone to be forwarded to another number. We have been in contact with the Texas Attorney General's Office, Criminal Investigation Division. They tell us that this scam has been around for a while, but what's occurring in Commerce is a new twist to this scam.
If you have questions, you may contact the Commerce Police Department at 903-886-1139.