The phones are forwarded so that your credit card company cannot call you and tell you about the activity on your card. The call goes to the crook who says "yes it is all my activity". How did the phone company call you if your phones were forwarded and how did the credit card company get hold of you to tell you about the activity? It takes most people about 2-3 days to realize they are not getting calls, so the crook gets about three days of freebies.