Beware *72 ripoffs: Ga. officer says Fulton County could prevent inmates’ abuses.
By STEVE VISSER and KATHY JEFCOATS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Fulton County prisoners are reaching out to touch the elderly in Middle Georgia and are picking their pockets.
So far, Fulton County Sheriff Ted Jackson and his staff are turning a deaf ear, said Jones County Sheriff Capt. Guy Mosteller.
“We can’t get any cooperation from Fulton County and it is frustrating to us,” Mosteller said. “Our residents are angry that they are being scammed. ... We can’t get Fulton County to stop it.”
The scam, Mosteller explained, involves jail inmates making collect calls to elderly folks in Gray, claiming to be looking for someone else.
They tell the residents a sob story about being in jail and ask them to forward the collect call for them.
The Gray citizens get stuck with a hefty phone bill because the inmate’s friend can make calls on the victim’s account, Mosteller said.
He said word had spread through the Fulton jail that Gray had a lot of elderly residents who could be conned.
The captain said he has been asking the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office for help since November — including two calls last week.
Jackson became sheriff this month. Attempts by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
Riley Taylor, who became Fulton County’s chief jailer this month, said his staff has tried to stop the cons.
Taylor said the Gray residents were the victims of an old scam that is played out in jails across the country.
Inmates ask the person they call to hit *72 and dial a number, which gives the person at the other number control of the victim’s phone.
“They probably have inmates there who are doing it to somebody else,” Riley said of Jones County. “We have tried to address many issues Jones County has brought us — apparently not to their satisfaction.
“I assure you of this — this will get my attention going forward. We will try and do a much better job.”
Fulton officials have confiscated a list of numbers used by inmates and suggested that Gray victims block the jail’s number. Mosteller said that doesn’t protect future victims.
Riley said that Fulton County has identified some of the scammers and put them in segregation.
He said his staff also has shut down abused pay phones for periods of time.
Riley said the main jail and its satellites have more than 280 telephones and that inmates — most of whom are in jail awaiting trial — have a right to use telephones.
“We need to educate consumers,” Riley said. “Inmates may not be the most educated folks, but they are innovative and sophisticated.”
Mosteller, who said his investigation has identified the jail telephone being used, wants to prosecute the con artists and win restitution for victims.
“I don’t understand why they can’t monitor that pay phone and identify the inmates using it,” Mostellersaid of Fulton County. “If we can do it, why can’t they? They just don’t want to do the work.”
Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution