Mobile phone scams are on the rise, and scammers are thinking of new ways to trick consumers out of their money.
One of the latest is where customers get a missed call and then call back to a premium number at a cost… And an expensive one at that.
Three UK have put out more information on his scam below. They call it the “Wangiri” call scam and Three have implemented a new system which will look for these spamming call patterns, taking action to stop them where possible.
Sadly, in these times of so many junk calls, many of us tend to drop any call that we don’t recognise anyway.
Three issues guidance to mobile users about Wangiri call scam
Three is issuing guidance to customers about the Wangiri call scam that is targeted at mobile phone users across the UK, in the wake of a surge of enquiries on the matter.
Wangiri (literally translated as ‘one ring and cut’ in Japanese, where it first originated) is a scam that involves a fraudster calling a mobile phone number at random, hanging up after one or two rings, and therefore encouraging the recipient to call the number back. These numbers are often from an automated system resulting in a dramatic increase in such calls. They are also internationally-based meaning a customer could receive a charge for returning the call.
As a network, Three has continually taken a proactive approach – taking the necessary measures to protect and maintain security on its network, by, for example, proactively looking for patterns to Wangiri, and taking action to protect its customers, where possible.
As part of this approach, Three is alerting customers to take the following action if they receive an unexpected call from an unknown international number to avoid falling victim to the scam:
- Do not answer the phone
- Do not call the number back
- Never share any personal information
Customers can also report numbers to Three that they believe to be suspicious, to allow us to investigate.
Alex Ammoune, Lead Fraud Risk Specialist at Three, said: “At Three we take fraud like this extremely seriously and we ask our customers to stay extra vigilant when it comes to receiving calls from international numbers.”
Simon Dukes, Chief Executive of Cifas, the UK’s fraud prevention service, said: “Fraud and cybercrime is now the number one crime threat in the UK and we must all be aware of the steps we need to take to keep ourselves safe. Always besuspicious of unexpected calls and never share any personal information with people you don’t know or trust.”
For more information about the Wangiri scam, please visit http://support.three.co.uk
For more information about Cifas, please visit www.cifas.org.uk
