I had a call this afternoon from a very perky recording telling me that my online ballot was drawn and I’d won a vacation worth about $2400.  All I had to do was press 0 to learn more.

Should you receive one of these calls you should hang up.  Immediately.  Whatever you do, do not press 0.  Or any other button.  Let’s repeat that:

DO NOT PRESS 0 OR ANY OTHER BUTTON.

Pressing 0 will basically grant them the ability to fraudulently charge your phone bill.

How do I know that I really didn’t win a big vacation?  Well, it was an autodialer calling with a pre-recorded announcement that didn’t say who they were.  And, they were calling my Bell phone number which I keep around as a backup to my VoIP line — I don’t use it for anything else.  And my parents mentioned that they had the same thing call them up at the cottage.

So, just hang up on it.  And check your phone bill closely next time it arrives.