BERRYVILLE -- At least two local residents have received frightening phone calls advising them that a named family member has been seriously injured in an accident and they are to call Sgt. Miller at a specific number for more information.

When they do, they reach a music recording or voice mail box.

After making that call, anyone trying to call them is automatically routed to that same number -- thus tying up the their phone line until the telephone company is contacted to untangle the mess.

Information is sketchy, but it is speculated that inmates at correctional facilities may be initiating the calls to tap into lines to have free phone service at their disposal.

Both victims of this scam reported receiving similar calls on Wednesday. It is speculated that around the time the first phone line was set free, the second victim was contacted.

In both instances, the victims answered the phone and hung up after hearing a Spanish speaking voice. The phone would ring again, almost instantly, and again it would be a Spanish speaking caller.

According to the daughter of an 83-year old victim, he stayed on the phone long enough on the third call to hear a message advising him to press "O" for English, which he did. That's when he received the message that his son John had been in a serious accident and he was to contact Sgt. Miller.

After placing the call, and receiving a music recording, he hung up, but was deeply troubled and tried to contact his son, to no avail, she said.

It was several hours before the family was able to contact John, and to learn that he was uninjured.

In the meantime, she said, her father was able to make outgoing calls, but anyone calling him was routed to the music recording.

The family did some detective work on its own by asking a Spanish translator living nearby to listen to the Spanish-speaking message, she said.

That neighbor couldn't understand much, but did pick up a reference to the Cook County correctional facility, she said. After more sleuthing, a Texas facility was contacted, which confirmed they were having problems with inmates misusing the phone system, she said.

"It was horrible because we couldn't get ahold of my brother for hours and we were in a panic," she recalled. "It's especially horrible for older people."

The second victim, a woman, contacted Cpt. Alan Hoos, with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.

Hoos said she let her third call go to her answering machine, and that's when she heard the reference to "O" for English, and received the message about a seriously injured family member.

Hoos said she was instructed to contact Sgt. Miller at 1172-1173-657-0503 for more information. He said she was also advised to make the call from a land line, because it wouldn't go through on a cell phone.

He said she called and got a voice mailbox.

It wasn't until her husband got off work and called home to see if he needed to pick anything up that she learned something was amiss.

"His call was rerouted to the voice mailbox," Hoos reported. "Then she had a friend call her and the same thing happened."

Hoos speculates that the 1172 number is an old code for rotary phones that automatically forward calls.

He is investigating the inmate link, saying there are several Cook County correctional facilities around the nation, and is checking into other angles the scammers might be pursuing.

Hoos said more information will be available as his investigation continues, and advises anyone who receives such a call to contact their local law enforcement agency -- and not make the call to the 1172 number.