The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has raised the alarm over the alleged return of the infamous ‘Wangiri’ phone scam. The scam borrows its “Wangiri” name from Japan, which means “one ring and cut” – wan means “one” and giri means “hang up”.
according to the authorities, One receives a call from an unknown overseas number, but the call only rings once before hanging up. When the recipient contacts the number back, their airtime is used.
“Once a victim returns the call, they are made to listen to recorded messages and the longer they stay on the line the more they lose and the more the scammers make,” says CA.
“The scam is designed to lure innocent and unsuspecting mobile phone users to return the “urgent” international calls upon which they are unknowingly redirected to premium numbers that drain their credit,” says Chiloba.
CA further stated that Kenyans who have fallen victim to the fraud scheme in recent times have been receiving calls from illegally purchased numbers with prefixes originating from Peru (+51) and New Zealand (+64).
The authority is therefore advising the public to beware, do not call back any international number that you don’t recognize. If you are already a victim, report the number to your service provider so they can block it. You can report international calls by forwarding the numbers to 333.
