Suspicious Call From 240-225-0876

At about 5:00pm on 12 December 2016, I received a phone call from 240-225-0876. When I picked-up, I heard a recorded message about some sort of scheme where I could make thousands of dollars every week. At the end of the recording, I was told to press 1 if I wanted to know more or to press 2 if I didn't.

I simply hung-up the phone and blocked the number. Later, I posted a tweet on Twitter announcing that I had received the call.

Being curious regarding whether the number was real or spoofed, I called back from a blocked number and was quite surprised to discover that the number was a valid land line. Again, I heard a recorded message which told me that I could make thousands of dollars monthly, weekly and even daily. If I wanted to know more about this self-described "money-getting system", all I had to do was leave my name, cell number and email address.

Despite asking me to supply them with such information, neither of their recorded messages informed me of the name of the person speaking, the name of their company (if any) or what their "money-getting scheme" is called.

I was not assured by their claims that it's not a multilevel marketing or pyramid scheme, because reputable companies don't try to get people to sign-up by calling them out of the clear blue sky.

Not being an idiot, I left them nothing but a message that they have violated the No Call List and that I have blocked them from calling me again. Curiously, they first called me at about the same time that phony IRS and Microsoft scammers used to call before the police raids in India. The number is registered in Maryland and it was a little after 10:00pm there when they called me in Honolulu.

Deciding to learn a little more about these people, I did a Google search and discovered other people who had posted complaints about receiving the call, most on the same day as myself. It seems that the scammers' use of the number had begun on the same day they called me.

The carrier for this number is CoreTel // Core Communications, Inc. out of Frederick, Maryland. I went to their website and found their customer service number, which I called to register my complaint. The very nice lady who answered asked me to send an email to their office, along with the date and time that I had received the call, which I did immediately after I got off the phone with her.

The email address where you could send a complaint message is service@coretel.net and make sure that you include the date and time you received the call.


Duane Browning