The national telephone company sent a text message to all its cellular clients last week warning them not to give out calling card numbers to scammers. Apparently, prisoners call from jail under the pretense of a false calling card lottery. They then are able to con victims into giving them the numbers for the calling cards. These numbers are then used to make free calls from the pay phones inside the penitentiary.

The text message ICE sent read "El ICE advierte que no se están realizando concursos con tarjetas telefónicas ni ofreciendo premios. No brinde los números de tarjetas colibrí 197 y viajera 199" (ICE informs you that we are not having any calling card contests or offering any prizes. Don’t give out your 197 and 199 calling card numbers).

Since last year, the Ministry of Justice and ICE have implemented an identification system, where people who are getting calls from a jail are advised “This call is coming from penitentiary…”.