Q. There's an e-mail going around about people who get an "urgent" phone message to call an 809 area code, and later ended up getting charged thousands of dollars for the call. Is this for real?

A. Unfortunately, yes, it can and does happen. A person gets a call from someone who says you've won a prize, or a family member is hurt or something else that might encourage you to call without thinking.

The Federal Communications Commission said the message sometimes comes in a call or page or even an e-mail. The agency reports that in each instance, the three-digit area code resembles a typical U.S. area code, so people will return the call and find out much later that they've inadvertently dialed another country and gotten zapped with a big phone bill.

Hawaiian Telcom spokeswoman Ann Nishida said phone security experts there say the "809" phone scam has existed for several years. The 809 area code is an international call to the Dominican Republic, but many people are not aware of this because they didn't dial an international code. Similar scams say to dial 284, 876 and other numbers.

Unsuspecting callers can rack up very high international long-distance charges quickly, sometimes while listening to a long recorded message. Nishida said some Hawai'i consumers may be more likely to call an 809 number because it is close to our 808 area code.

And what's worse about this, Nishida said, is that since you made the call, you're responsible for the bill.

Nishida said customers who believe they have received a fraudulent message or e-mail associated with Hawaiian Telcom services may also call the company's Corporate Security at 643-7111 (option 1), weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

She also offers some tips: