Some telephone fraud scams once revolved around the 809 area code; it was being used since calling international numbers are charged at a higher rate than domestic calls. The victim receives a message on their answering machine to call a number with an 809 area code. Since there were many new area codes being introduced in the US, the victim thinks nothing of it and dials the 809 number. The number dialed is however an international number with a share of the revenue going to the operator of the number. The victim is then put on hold indefinitely, and billed for minute they are on hold. This is actually perfectly legal, because the number is charged at normal international rates, and is not premium rate. [ 809 scam email Around 1996, an email from Scambusters.org appeared, warning about the 809 and other Caribbean area codes scams, and this (legitimate) warning began to make the rounds of forwarded emails. As usual with such forwards, people have modified it from its original form to make it appear more urgent. Untruths and exaggerations in the resulting hoax email warning now include the following: