“Scam Phone Calls From Tonga Hit New Orleans”

Anyone with a phone today has undoubtedly received annoying spam calls and even texts. Most of these phone calls are harmless robocalls or pitches from telemarketers. Yet, all too often, a growing number of these calls are scams perpetrated from outside the United States.

That is apparently the case with a new round of calls coming from the island-nation of Tonga in the South Pacific. The numbers appear on caller I.D. to be U.S.-based telephones with a “676” area code and may ring only once or twice before disconnecting. One such number that has been active in NOLA is (676)-551-3338. But it’s all a high-tech scam using automated software to target thousands of phones daily.

According to the website “scam-detector.com,” the goal of these scammers is to have you redial the number in order to get charged a hefty service fee from your provider in what is known as the Premium Line scam. And it’s not just phone calls, but also texts and SMS messages as well.

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