Mailing List Archive

Another evil number
From a fake "subscription" spam:

You can reach out
to our Customer Support Team+1 (800) 781 - 2511.
Re: Another evil number [ In reply to ]
On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 05:51:24 -0700
Loren Wilton wrote:

> From a fake "subscription" spam:
>
> You can reach out
> to our Customer Support Team+1 (800) 781 - 2511.


Is it common in the US to put 800 in brackets like that? In my
experience brackets normally go around either country codes or area
codes, digits that may be optional.
Re: Another evil number [ In reply to ]
RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> writes:

>> You can reach out
>> to our Customer Support Team+1 (800) 781 - 2511.
>
> Is it common in the US to put 800 in brackets like that? In my
> experience brackets normally go around either country codes or area
> codes, digits that may be optional.

Yes, it common. The proper form is

+1 800 782 2511

but people in the US do not write numbers like that.

The normal way in the US would be

(800) 782-2511

and i find the spaces around the - to be unusual. But really there is a
fair degree of variation.
Re: Another evil number [ In reply to ]
On 2021-06-25 at 14:24:13 UTC-0400 (Fri, 25 Jun 2021 19:24:13 +0100)
RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com>
is rumored to have said:

> On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 05:51:24 -0700
> Loren Wilton wrote:
>
>> From a fake "subscription" spam:
>>
>> You can reach out
>> to our Customer Support Team+1 (800) 781 - 2511.
>
>
> Is it common in the US to put 800 in brackets like that?

Yes.

> In my
> experience brackets normally go around either country codes or area
> codes, digits that may be optional.

In the US system (NANP) toll-free numbers were initially implemented as
special pseudo-area codes. For many years area codes were strictly
geographic except for 800 and later 888 toll-free numbers, and we had 3
types of dialing: 7-digit "toll-free local," 1+7-digit "local toll," and
1+3-digit-area-code+7-digit "long distance toll." In border areas,
(###) ###-#### was a common format in print. Because toll-free numbers
worked most like long distance toll calls, requiring '1+###' as a
prefix, they got the same punctuation treatment.

Inordinate additional detail:

For some time, we also had "local exchange" dialing, where one could
just dial the last 4 digits for local numbers sharing the same 3-digit
prefix. There was also an old nomenclature system that mapped the local
exchange prefix to 2 letters and a digit, with the 2 letters being an
abbreviation of some word. For example, as a kid I had a "Parkview 1"
number: 721-xxxx. Businesses would often put their numbers in print ads
using those, e.g. PA1-1234. Parkview was not an actual place, but all
the PAx exchanges in St. Louis were within a mile or two of Forest Park,
i.e. people who might be able to have a view of the park from an
adequately tall tree.


--
Bill Cole
bill@scconsult.com or billcole@apache.org
(AKA @grumpybozo and many *@billmail.scconsult.com addresses)
Not Currently Available For Hire
Re: Another evil number [ In reply to ]
On Fri, 25 Jun 2021, Greg Troxel wrote:

>
> RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> writes:
>
>>> You can reach out
>>> to our Customer Support Team+1 (800) 781 - 2511.
>>
>> Is it common in the US to put 800 in brackets like that? In my
>> experience brackets normally go around either country codes or area
>> codes, digits that may be optional.
>
> Yes, it common. The proper form is
>
> +1 800 782 2511
>
> but people in the US do not write numbers like that.
>
> The normal way in the US would be
>
> (800) 782-2511
>
> and i find the spaces around the - to be unusual. But really there is a
> fair degree of variation.

And then there's the obfuscation that spammers/phishers use.
Here's an example from a recent message I found in one of my spam traps:

> if you have any issue regarding your order.
>
> Reach us?at +1 [805} 429-6748
>
> Thanks & Regards
>
> +1 [805} 429-6748

Those bracket/brace mismatching are verbatium.


--
Dave Funk University of Iowa
<dbfunk (at) engineering.uiowa.edu> College of Engineering
319/335-5751 FAX: 319/384-0549 1256 Seamans Center, 103 S Capitol St.
Sys_admin/Postmaster/cell_admin Iowa City, IA 52242-1527
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
Better is not better, 'standard' is better. B{
Re: Another evil number [ In reply to ]
On 25 Jun 2021, at 12:24, RW <rwmaillists@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 05:51:24 -0700
> Loren Wilton wrote:
>
>> From a fake "subscription" spam:
>>
>> You can reach out
>> to our Customer Support Team+1 (800) 781 - 2511.
>
>
> Is it common in the US to put 800 in brackets like that?

Yes.

> In my
> experience brackets normally go around either country codes or area
> codes, digits that may be optional.

800 is an area code, it's just a special area code that is not tied to an actual area.

The normal format for phone number in the US is

(AAA) XXX-NNNN

Where AAA is the three digits area code, XXX is the three digit local exchange (a largely historical feature) and NNNN is the number.

Sometimes a "1 " precedes the area code and sometimes in calling areas that do not require ten digit dialing, the area code will be omitted. "+1 is correct, but is Arely used in the US.

The oddest thing in that is the space surrounding the - and the lack of space before +1

--
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but pants with horizontal stripes make me look
chubby."