MIAMI -- Prison inmates are using your phone to make expensive long distance calls. You’re not only paying for them, you’re helping them do it.

Phone Recording: This call is from a correctional institution. You have a collect call from an inmate.

«It would say this call was coming from a prison,» Marilyn Garcia said. « It would disconnect and that would be it.»

«If they have taken advantage of me, they have taken advantage of a whole bunch of other people,» Sharon Glasgow said.

Glasgow and Garcia were both scammed by inmates in prison who used their home phones to make long distance calls billed to them -- and they had no idea.

«I forwarded these calls and didn’t know that I forwarded these calls,» Glasgow said.

It’s known as call forwarding fraud. It starts when inmates get you to accept a collect call, and then give you a sob story.

«He said he had been in an accident and the police had his children and could I please call his wife,» Glasgow said.

Glasgow lives in the Panhandle. She got a call an NBC 6 investigation found came from an inmate at Miami-Dade Correctional Facility. The inmate instructed Glasgow to hit *72, then another number.

What many people don’t realize is that *72 is the code that initiates call forwarding on your phone. It not only forwards the call you’re on at the time, but will continue to forward all calls that come to your home after that, even to long distance numbers.

«It’s pretty hard for me to explain the anger that is still in my mind because someone took advantage of my kindness,» Glasgow said.

Investigators say inmates use the jail’s payphones.

«Mike» is a long-time corrections investigator for Miami-Dade County’s correctional system.

«They can make any number of phone calls as long as that line is forwarded,» Mike said. «It occurs in all of our facilities.»

NBC 6 found victims across the state -- in Jacksonville, Osceola County, Lake County, the Panhandle and South Florida.

One scam bypassed collect calls all together by calling a dental office that had a toll-free number.

Marilyn Garcia was shocked when she found out that the family’s dental practice in west Miami-Dade County was a gold mine for inmates.

The office had a phone bill over $5,000 one month and $3,600 another.

By calling her office number, inmates were then able to use her phone to connect long distance. Some calls were placed to Cuba and Latin America.

«When I saw the bills I commented to the girls and they said, ’You know, we have been getting these strange phone calls,’» Garcia said.

It took months to clear the charges after filing a complaint with Florida’s Public Service Commission.

«We are trying to warn people not to participate in this and if they get a call like this, that they are going to get involved in something they didn’t intend to,» said Ruth Sasser, of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. «They are going to get scammed.»

In Miami-Dade County, the 6,500 inmates can use almost 1,000 payphones. They make about 3 million calls a month and officials say it’s almost impossible to pinpoint a perpetrator.

In the past 12 months, Miami-Dade County Corrections has updated its mandatory phone recordings four times to warn the public.

«We altered the recording so that more information was provided to them before they accepted the charges for the call,» Frank Brophy said.

Still, victims are falling for it and are shocked when they finally discover what’s happened.

«It’s horrible,» Glasgow said. «I don’t like anyone to be taken advantage of.»

Some victims had to pay for the fraudulent calls while others got the charges removed.

BellSouth, AT&T and the corrections system say they are working to stop the problem. They say if something doesn’t sound right, hang up the phone.

To report any problems, call AT&T at (888) 241–1290. If you think you are a victim of this type of scam, call the Public Service Commission at (800) 342–3552.

An alert reader passes along the address of a Web site that carries news about lawyers. On this site, the Tallahassee law firm of Ausley & McMullen brags about its role in getting the new law passed in Florida to raise telephone rates:

«Firm attorney John P. Fons played a leading role in crafting, lobbying and shepherding the passage of this legislation on behalf of the firm’s local telephone company clients.

»In addition, Fons will be spearheading the upcoming efforts at the Florida Public Service Commission seeking implementation of the very favorable provisions of the act on behalf of these clients."

Check out the site at [ >>> ] Let us review these words:

«Crafting.»

«Lobbying.»

«Shepherding.»

«Very favorable provisions.»

This is shocking news! You mean to say that the lobbyists for telephone companies actually wrote the bill? And that it contains «very favorable provisions» for phone companies?

Well, it’s good to hear them admit it.

This week, we’re seeing the fruits of all the lobbyists’ hard work.

Because of this new law, the Public Service Commission is meeting in Tallahassee to decide whether to raise phone rates.

I’m not exactly on the edge of my seat. The way the law is written, it is hard to imagine the PSC saying no. Still, it’s good that our attorney general, Charlie Crist, is fighting it, along with consumer advocate Mike Twomey and new Public Counsel Harold McLean. Who knows? Maybe they’ll win something.

The law is robbery.

The telephone companies paid money to the Legislature, in the form of campaign money. Earlier this year, our friends at the Miami Herald tracked that campaign money and identified at least $1-million.

In return, the telephone companies got to write their own law then got it greased through the Legislature without even the pretense of public input.

This law will not «benefit» the citizens. It will not be «revenue-neutral» for the customers. Do you know what this law is? It is a final exploitation of the last few generations that will be wedded to the old-fashioned wire in the wall.

Remember, the claim of being «revenue neutral» meant that customers would pay more locally, but save on long-distance.

So I laughed Thursday at seeing this in the Wall Street Journal:

Starting in January, AT&T Corp. is adding a new $3.95 monthly fee to the bills of roughly 10-million customers who already pay the company’s top «Basic Rates» for long-distance because they haven’t selected a discount calling plan.

Sprint Corp. and MCI also are raising rates or fees on several long-distance and local calling plans, after repeatedly jacking up charges over the past year.

Beautiful. Just in time. We’ll stick the citizens with higher local rates, and we’ll stick ’em up on the long-distance side too.

I promised last year to print, each time I mentioned this law, how this area’s legislators voted on it.

Here’s who voted yes in the House:

Kevin Ambler, R-Lutz; Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City; Faye Culp, R-Tampa; Frank Farkas, R-St. Petersburg; Bob Henriquez, D-Tampa; Ed Homan, R-Tampa; Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa; Ken Littlefield, R-Wesley Chapel; Sandy Murman, R-Tampa; Frank Peterman, D-St. Petersburg.

Now, here’s who voted no in the House:

Tom Anderson, R-Dunedin; Kim Berfield, R-Clearwater; Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor; John Carassas, R-Belleair; Charlie Dean, R-Inverness; Heather Fiorentino, R-New Port Richey; Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg; David Russell, R-Brooksville; Leslie Waters, R-Seminole.

Here are the senators who voted yes:

Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island; Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg.

Here are the senators who voted no:

Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon; Victor Crist, R-Tampa; Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey; Tom Lee, R-Brandon; Les Miller, D-Tampa.

A vote to raise phone rates! Consider it the Legislature’s little Christmas gift to you.