Beware of the return of the ‘one ring’ international call scam or as it is commonly known ‘Wangiri Scam’, Communications Authority (CA) has advised.
Kenyans have in the recent weeks been receiving calls from foreign countries only to call back and sometimes listen to an automated message or are redirected to premium numbers.
“In exercise of its consumer protection mandate in the ICT sector, CA advises the public to beware of the scam. Do Not call back any international number that you do not recognize,” CA has warned.
The unsuspecting mobile phone users are swindled out of their airtime.
“Most of the calls are reported to bear these codes; +41 (Switzerland), +963 (Syria), +252 (Somalia) and +37 (Latvia).
The scammers purchase the phone numbers used in the scam from the dark web which is a hidden part of the internet.”
Read: ‘Public Likes’ Scam Unravels as Safaricom Suspends the PayBill Number
According to an Irish report, the con artists use call the subscribers and then immediately disconnect the calls.
The authority has advised subscribers to report the foreign numbers and to avoid by all means calling back numbers bearing the aforementioned codes.
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