Dear tellows fellows,
Today we want to tell you about the Wangiri scam. This fraud displays no sign of dying and it’s widespread in many countries like Italy, Indonesia and Spain. It is related to the missed calls we receive from foreign numbers. In fact, many scammers abroad use the Wangiri method to deceive us.
What is it? Let’s have a look!
How it works?
The name Wanigiri is originated from Japan and it literally means “one and cut”. Scammer would call victim’s phone number and hang up after one or two rings. We usually have no time to answer the call, because the caller wants us to call back. When we do, the fraudster can drain our credit by charging us premium rates.
Based on reports from several tellows users, most telephone numbers related to Wanigiri fraud have country codes originate from Tunisia (+216), Guinea (+224), Liberia (+231), Mali (+223). So don’t be surprised if you receive a call from these countries, and you should be careful!
Let’s see some reports from our users:
Harry commented on the number +224660009206 (from Guinea):
“Early morning call, no voice message left”
dave commented on the number +21652091213 (from Tunisia):
“Rang and hung up”
Freaking out commented on the number +2238989 (from Mali):
“I am on the do not call list but this number calls all the time and won’t stop, what can I do?”
fssd commented on the number +22455909949 (from Guinea):
“Early morning caller, as in 4am”
How prevent the scam?
We recommend you:
• don’t answer a call from foreign number, especially if you don’t know the number;
• never call back a missed call from a foreign number that you don’t know. If it is licit, the caller will either ring back or leave a message;
• use tellows to get more detailed information about the caller.
In addition, our “Caller ID and Blocking” application can help you when you receive an incoming call on your mobile phone. You can now access real-time information about calls and about the caller. When your phone rings the tellows app will tell you the trustworthiness of the caller. And with the Premium version you can block automatically the suspicious numbers.
Your tellows team
