Our main business phone line was hijacked last month. What a scary and weird experience! In the middle of a work week, we started receiving thousand of calls by the second. The phone calls started on a Thursday and did not stop for a full week.
Basically, our telephone number was receiving forward calls from an unknown number from people who were victims of a scam. The victims were calling from different parts of the United States.
However, this phone scam did not have anything to do with our clients nor database. We sent messages to all our clients to reach us at a temporary phone number while we found a solution.
We were interviewed and featured on CBS Miami Channel 4 News. Our story was also covered and aired by WSVN.com Channel 7 News.
Ft. Lauderdale Dentist Claims Phone Number Was “Hijacked”: Full Story Here
The protocol for a phone scam, is to contact first your local authority and a series of federal law enforcement. As well as, submit a complaint to all companies involved.
We contacted the attorney general, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and all telephone company providers involved.
Meanwhile, our staff continued to answer phone calls to explain to all the victims the situation and alert them NOT to provide ANY personal information. As well as continued to assist our patients in the midst of the craziness.
We want to thank the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and detectives for assisting us through this unfortunate situation. A local detective was able to reach out to the company hosting the phone number and put an end to it. Luckily, we were able to recover our main number 954-524-2300.
Lesson: Don’t give up…. Press on…