Dozens of Newington residents have been getting startling phone calls -- But local police say it is all a scam.

Lieutenant William Darby says a caller tells the scam victim that a family member has been injured in a fictional accident, and asks the victim to dial star-seven-two and a number, to get more information.

But Darby says dialing star-seven-two says puts the victim's phone into call forwarding mode, sending any incoming calls to the out-of-state number the victim dialed.

When the victim unwittingly turns on call forwarding, other people can make long distance phone calls through the victim's phone, and the victim gets billed.