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Monday, February 17, 2025

UKE warns against “wangiri”. It only takes one call to lose your money

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The scam known as “wangiri” is an increasingly popular method of criminals inducing calls back to numbers charged with high rates. – We have a missed phone call, so we call back without hesitation. Let's not do that – appeals Witold Tomaszewski, acting spokesman for the Office of Electronic Communications.

“Wangiri” is a method of fraud involving making short calls from international numbers in the hope that the recipient will call back. The term comes from Japanese and means “quick cut”. Scammers call from abroad and hang up after one ring. They usually do this during working hours or at night, when it is more difficult to answer the phone right away.

How not to be fooled by the “wangiri” method?

All the victim has to do is call back automatically on the displayed number and he or she will be exposed to high costs. The longer you stay on the line, the higher your mobile operator will charge you. Fraudsters have refined the “wangiri” mechanism to such an extent that they are able to extend connections. They are received by the machine, and the caller still hears a waiting tone in the handset.

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– This may mislead the caller, suggesting that the fee is not charged yet, because the call gives the impression of waiting, while the counter is already counting – said Witold Tomaszewski, acting spokesman for the Office of Electronic Communications, in an interview with PAP.

Although anyone can fall victim to such fraud, older people and those who have family abroad are particularly vulnerable.

One connection lasting a few seconds, depending on the country we connect to, may result in: an increase in the telephone bill by several or several dozen zlotys.

This type of fraud is very lucrative for criminals because it is fully automated and involves a huge number of defrauded customers from different countries, selected randomly by the system.

Do not call these numbers back

Interpol has identified that the most commonly used international dialing codes for “wangiri” calls originate from Moldova (prefix +373), Kosovo (+383) i Tunisia (+216). In Poland, this type of telephone attacks are also carried out from such exotic countries as: Somalia (+252), Philippines (+63), Afghanistan (+93), Mali (+223) or Azerbaijan (+994).

The practice is possible thanks to the cooperation of criminals with local mobile operators.

– As a rule, operators settle wholesale payments among themselves. While in Europe the rates for such settlements are low and regulated by the European Commission, in the case of non-EU countries, a wholesale call minute may cost the equivalent of 1-3. zloty. Scammers strike deals with local communications companies, providing them with millions of these incoming calls. Even if each of them lasts 20 seconds, given the huge scale of this fraud, it generates millions of profits, which local operators share with criminals – explained Witold Tomaszewski.

Experts warn that the scale of the problem is constantly growing as fraudsters use increasingly advanced telecommunications systems. The only way not to lose money is to not call back unknown foreign numbers. It is better to simply ignore such a phone call and delete it from your call history so as not to accidentally call it back.

– We fall victim to this type of fraud when we act automatically and turn off our heads. We have a missed phone call, so we call back without hesitation. Let's not do that. If someone really wants to contact us, they will call us again, emphasized Witold Tomaszewski.

Main photo source: Shutterstock



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