One ring scam (Wangiri)

h_henna

Hey folks,

We’ve seen a few reports here recently about members receiving mysterious calls from abroad, and we thought it’d be helpful to give you a heads up on exactly what these are. At the moment, we're seeing a lot of these calls originate from African countries, but they can come from anywhere in the world.

The fraudsters that make these calls leave you a missed call and calling the number back after having received a missed call will result in a premium rate call charge which will be taken from your credit and this will too be going to the fraudsters.

To avoid being left without credit, we would urge you not to call the number back.

Here is a handy thread from a little while ago that talks about the same issue that may answer any questions you may have about this scam.

Hope this helps and have a wonderful day.

Cheers,
Henna

clikasarus

h_henna
thanks h_ henna it’s getting very scary with all these scammers I personally get paranoid when the phone goes now wondering weather or not it is a scam I do hope the government steps in soon to stop them all but thank you for the info and heads up

jackjohnjoseph

h_henna So sad that we can't even answer our phones and be scammed before even a word has been uttered 🤐🤬 I used to keep my airtime balance pretty well topped up but now I'm running in down just in case. Thanks for the warning 🌞

jaymailsays

h_henna
Hi @h_henna
This is unacceptable, placing the onus on the customer, especially when the offending prefix number has not even been published for information.

It must be be for giffgaff/02 to block known (incoming) premium rate numbers but more importantly to prevent all payments to these rogue operators.
I for one expect to be indemnified by giffgaff for any credit balance losses. I say this because on my profile I have them blocked:
https://giffgaff.com/call-services Which Says:-

"Incoming premium calls and texts

Had enough of receiving premium calls? You know those numbers starting with 09? Or texts from premium rate adult or chat service numbers? Well, you can block those calls and texts here. Problem solved. To find out more about premium rate numbers check out our pricing page."

Any deductions from my balance would therefore be a corrupt payment to criminals.
EDIT
How Vodafone deal with these crooks:-
"I accidentally called back a Wangiri number. Can I have a refund?
We don’t want you to be out of pocket as a result of these scams, so we refund all customers who have returned a call to a confirmed fraudulent Wangiri number. We aim to process these refunds within 30 days and we’ll confirm the refund has been applied by sending you a text message.

We proactively monitor the network for Wangiri scams, but to ensure we’re aware of your particular case please text CALL to 7726 free from your Vodafone mobile. We’ll reply by text to ask you for the phone number you’re receiving nuisance calls from. Please reply with the Wangiri number you called back."

"What’s being done to address this issue?
We proactively monitor our network for Wangiri activity and shut down new fraudulent international numbers and number ranges as we find them.

This is an issue affecting customers of mobile and fixed line operators around the globe, and we’re working with a number of different operators to reduce Wangiri fraud levels."

brulaw

h_henna
Thank you for the warning / information , the more info people have the more cautious ( and protected ) they can be .

harrrrrry

h_henna If you were to pick up the call this will result in a reverse charge

Henna,

Can you clarify how and why that can be allowed to happen?

Last time I received a "reverse charge" call (but it was many years ago) it was the rule that the operator had to say something like "Joe Bloggs is calling from a callbox in outer bofuslavia. Will you accept the call?" Dishonestly, the operator never explained that "accepting" the call meant paying for it, but the question nevertheless had to be asked and accepted before the call could be connected and the charge could begin. Merely answering the call was not sufficient.

So, when did it change to make it unnecessary to ask the recipient for consent? And why does anybody, at ofcom or elsewhere, consider that to be an acceptable way of making reverse charge calls?

Not answering the call probably isn't going to help anyway as the call will probably go to an answering machine or voicemail.

If reverse charge calls are really being charged without the knowledge or permission of the recipient, then there clearly needs to be a setting in call services that allows the member to declare an opt out to all reverse charge calls -- and giffgaff should probably set it to be the default unless the member has specifically instructed otherwise.

bobrobinson

h_henna
Hiya Henna. These little buggers don,t give up do they. The things they think of as they try to scam us.
Thanks for warning us abut them.
Take care Bob 😄

bluenose55

h_henna Cheers & Thank You Good Post Well Done.

bluemoonbaz

h_henna
Thanks henna its been a rough period for members with these scammers .

o__o

h_henna Thank you for letting us all know, these scammers are the lowest of the low :/

digit2

h_henna this is all becoming quite scary. I wonder how they get our numbers or is just random?

charlixsparkles

h_henna thanks for the PSA!
I don’t answer unknown numbers on principle. This is why D:

bernienatch

h_henna I just do my usual of.....if I don't recognise the number, I don't answer it. If it turns out it's someone who wants me urgently, they'll call back almost immediately.

defraybo

h_henna
Thanks for that. I personally am now in the habit of never answering calls that are not in my contacts and never return missed calls from the same, if they don't leave an answerphone message then i add the number to my auto reject list.

123kingarthur

h_henna Thank you my friend I am so scared of being scammed My friend lost nearly£8000 last year I am continually getting calls and e,mails which is very worrying

manda76

h_henna had a spam text saying I'm transferring my giffgaff goodybag To TANGO90 ???? When u press on link it asks you to log in

natalia2019

h_henna thank you for this, since joining giffgaff I get automated sale calls from China 😮 they show as a local area number otherwise I wouldn’t pick the call up but I quickly block them afterwards, they are sneaky though because they call back using a slightly different digit each time more I block the more they will disappear. 😊

f2015

h_henna thanks

andym112

h_henna hi those calls can be frustrating. I'm glad my phone tells me before I answer it if it's a scam. So I know its safe to answer the call.

ukrun

h_henna Thanks for the helpful info.

sha_shah1

h_henna
Thanks for update and info

hasnain2019uk

h_henna
Just Download Should I Answer App From Google Playstore Or Apple Store And You Are Safe From Unwanted Calls Or Spam Calls

nalar79

h_henna Thanks for the information. There is two ways to solve this problem. One is for giffgaff to block these 08. 09 calls from foreign countries or don't answer your phone when you see the number. I prefer it if giffgaff could put something in place like a message which would say you have a call from Kuwait do you wish to accept or refuse the call. Hope we can watch this space. Regards nalar79.

gb2774

h_henna

Thanks for the heads up.
Be safe giffgaffers!

roomey1991

h_henna thankyou 🙂

thunderdragon

h_henna The fraudsters that make these calls leave you a missed call and calling the number back after having received a missed call will result in a premium rate call charge which will be taken from your credit and this will too be going to the fraudsters.

Firstly; Thanks for the heads-up on this, Henna! I'm not normally in the habit of returning calls from numbers I don't recognise, but it's always handy to keep up to speed on the latest scams! 🙂

For those fellow giffgaffers who - Like myself - Use GoodyBags exclusively, I have a tip: Try to keep the cash credit on your account as low as possible unless ye normally need a bit of cash balance for regular out-of-GoodyBag services as a matter of course. In my case I presently have <30p on my account, and if I fell victim to a scam like this the loss is so small I'm not going to miss it too much. (And it'd cost GG nearly nothing to restore it, too!) 🙂
This is fairly easy to manage in some ways: If you normally buy the £8,00 GB each month and ye presently have £4 of "spare" credit balance, consider buying a £20 top-up and immediately queueing up GBs as soon as the next slot becomes available. This admittedly commits the cash early, but after the third GB (3x £8,00 = £24,00 of course) you'll have a very small residual balance which is less likely to hurt if ye get scammed out of it! 🙂

I received a mysterious call from outside of the EU earlier today myself (It had the dialling code for Kings Lynn) and I initially though it was connected with this "One Ring" scam...But thankfully it turned out to just be Sauron demanding to know where "His Preciousssss" had got to! 😂 😉
+++ 🚄 ThunderDragon 🤘 +++

smallzy33

h_henna

does giffgaff block private numbers??

maggierich

h_henna how are they getting people’s numbers?

warrenlew

h_henna I got a text

afifabi

@h_henna#3

h_henna

h_henna
One idiot rang me that other day and ask me where do you live
And I said <censored> you little <censored> where the <censored> did you get my number from

jmart62

h_henna
Thanks for letting us know.I usually block the caller if I am suspicious about a number.I also put the phone down if there is a pause when I answer it.It is indeed a shame that you can’t answer your phone for fear of who’s on the other end.

bobsta

h_henna - thanks for the heads-up.

jb29

h_henna Thanks for this post. I recieved a call myself a week or two ago from Abu Dhabi if i remember correctly, as usual though i let it ring out and just block the number straight away. Who knows, it could of actually been legitimate but I'd rather not take the chance.

mrsgrowler

clikasarus
I only answer a call if I recognise the number on the basis that if it is a genuine caller whose number I just happen to not know - eg a delivery driver - they will leave a voicemail or contact me using another method ie text or e-mail.

And I never ring any such call back just to see who it is on the same basis.

Seems to work.

sb99a34

clikasarus I have a policy not to answer any number u don't recognise. If the person hasn't WhatsApp or contact me on instant messager then I simply don't answer!

xiaodunhui

clikasarus It happened to me often saying there is a missing DHL parcel.

johnrooney80

**i had call from kuwait other day.. :S dont know anyone over there? **

wedgington

jaymailsays have them blocked in my call settings as well and fingers crossed I haven't received any in the few months I've been with giffgaff . Getting them on my bt landline though but I've not been charged.

jfh

jaymailsays

thanks for the information.

When visiting an old couple who are friends of ours not technically minded they told me of some strange calls regularly at about 10 am which are silent and then after a few minutes a voice says ‘goodbye ‘.

Wondering what that’s all about.

jason1973tess

jaymailsays you can block premium number on your mobile so that is how is doing all the scams first I heard of this but im going to block them naw

mhhiggins67

jaymailsays you are on the money it's happened to me several times and the prefix of numbers seem like it's a British mobile number it's cost me over the last 6 months or so 074 seem to be the common start of these scam calls

clikasarus

mrsgrowler

mrsgrowler I only answer a call if I recognise the number on the basis that if it is a genuine caller whose number I just happen to not know - eg a delivery driver - they will leave a voicemail or contact me using another method ie text or e-mail.

And I never ring any such call back just to see who it is on the same basis.

Seems to work.

It’s just getting beyond a joke now Mrs growler something needs to be done people are loosing a lot of money as well as the identity but thanks for the info it is helpful 👍🏻

karenyates

Thanks for the helpful info.
I never have any credit on my phone so they'd be disappointed if they call me.😄

mrsgrowler

clikasarus
You’re welcome.

Sadly due to the way these things work it seems unlikely that there is much that can be done by “the authorities”, witness junk mail.

If you get post from a scammer you don’t HAVE to respond to it you can just throw it away.
However if you want the PO to stop delivering these kind of letters they might be able to if they can identify which letters come from the scammers.
And this proved possible where the scammers would use bulk posting and had distinctive packaging to their “mail” and so many scams were stopped.
But if the scammers use plain packaging or change their envelopes each time or even pass your address on to others then how will the PO recognise a scam letter from a genuine one other than by opening it, and we don’t want that do we?

So sadly the onus is on us, as the recipient, to identify that what has been sent to us is a scam and so throw it away.

Of course there may be a way to deal with telphone calls - as we are talking about technology here - but what generally happens when we ask “somebody to do something” is that in order to catch the scams we end up with it getting harder to get the genuine stuff and the scammers just come up with another way.
For example I once received a “number withheld” cold call and when it got abusive I asked if it could be blocked but was told that my provider (talktalk) could do it if I blocked ALL withheld numbers. But I want to receive some of these as many genuine organisations use them eg the NHS.

So what I did was got a phone that has Advanced Call blocker included - see this post here
https://community.giffgaff.com/d/23770941-landline-call-blocker-that-actually-works/23

Not saying companies shouldn’t try to prevent these things happening but we shouldn’t expect it to all be done for us we need to take some responsibility / actions of our own.

jfc1951

Why would anyone call back an International number they do not recognise?

Perhaps if relatives are holidaying abroad, or similar, but surely one would check the country code first!

jaymailsays

jfc1951
Ever heard of student back packers, entering different foreign territories on a daily basis, getting into an emergency, or losing a phone. Any responsible parent/guardian would be negligent to ignore a call from an unknown country code.

It is for giffgaff (like Vodafone) to keep us safe.
I have every faith they will.

chris63468

jfc1951 it’s a numbers game. Working in IT security, the vast majority of attacks we see are pretty unsophisticated (despite what you might hear) - they rely on high volumes to generate a tiny hit rate - still enough to make money when the overheads are so low.

clikasarus

mrsgrowler
you do talk a lot of sense and you have made a lot of good points there we will just have to be a bit more vigilant and be on our guard more than normal my friend 👍🏻

jfc1951

jaymailsays

Yup, heard of those, have known of the itenararies, would know from where to expect a call.

mrsgrowler

jaymailsays
Not sure how giffgaff or indeed any provider will be able to decide which call comes from your son or daughter or a scammer.
Unless something like the Advanced Call blocker I use ( see here https://community.giffgaff.com/d/23770941-landline-call-blocker-that-actually-works/23)
can be developed to work on a mobile so that you aren’t actually answering the call until you know it is genuine.

mattiuslad

jaymailsays
So because some (likely very few) people may have student offspring visiting fr and wide, the rest of us are not able to have these things blocked?
What a ridiculous idea.
Far better would be for the technological boffins at giffgaff techno HQ to add a switch that allows us to choose to not get these calls full stop, then if perchance we do have someone go abroad we can enable the calls - just in case.

jaymailsays

mrsgrowler
If you read my main post above, you will see Vodafone's statement on the issue.

Not much point in having a premium rate bar in our profile, if it doesn't work.

mrsgrowler

jaymailsays

I did read it but my understanding of that bar is that it is for known Premium Rate numbers which, if hey come from the U.K., are easy to identify as they start with 09.

Whereas the calls being referred to are coming from a foreign country so they can’t necessarily be identified as Premium Rate.
Although of course one would hope that once so identified giffgaff would block them.
And if they don’t then yes we need to be questioning why.

However although. providers are trying to identify the rogue numbers and block them as the scammers just keep using different ones then it is an endless (and thankless) task that is unlikely to result in any company being able to say “You will never receive another scam call.”

As for Vodphone refunding any money lost as a result of a scam then that’s a different discussion that is required if we want giffgaff to do the same,