Chances are you're using a local phone number to get online, and you know exactly what you are paying for the service. Nevertheless, many consumers are finding charges on their phone bills for calls to destinations that give new meaning to long distance. The calls were made through their modems without their knowledge or approval.
Some websites use international dialing to trick consumers into paying to access content.
These scams, typically associated with adult sites, don't require a credit card number for access. That means they are available to children, who can click onto them without their parents' knowledge or permission. The Federal Trade Commission says these scams are very lucrative for the operators, and it may be only a matter of time before they appear on sites that feature games, psychics, gambling and other services. Beware of any program that enables your modem to re-dial to the Internet. If you see a dialog box on your computer indicating that it's dialing when you didn't direct it to, cancel the connection and hang up.