Miami-Dade County Jail Inmates Involved in Phone Scam.

Inmates at Miami-Dade jails have found a way hack into phone lines to make free collect phone calls.

 As a result many unsuspecting citizens have been left footing large phone    bills, according to the Miami Herald. Corrections say there is little they can do to stop the jail phone scams, which has cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Miami Jail inmates have figured out a way to call a victim's fax number, which is then forwarded to their friend's home, and the friend accepts the call but does not have to pay the charges, officials said.

Miami Pretrial Detention Center Jail.

Global Tel*Link, which operates Miami jail collect- and prepaid-call systems has paid out roughly $200,000 for bogus calls.

Inmates at the Miami-Dade County jails have free access to banks of phones, and can only make collect or prepaid phone calls of up to 30 minutes.

Miami Jail Corrections officials say, jail phone scams are not new and typically inmates pretend to be distressed and get the caller to dial *72 and another phone number to forward their call.

This new phone scam however, enables call forwarding without the consumer's knowledge.