There was a big telephone alert in January of this year and people throughout the country were being warned not to fall for the ‘ring once and leave a number’ scammers.
The trick at the time was that they would ring your mobile once and hang up in the hope you’d ring back. And, it seems, that many people with children or relatives in countries overseas did just that – and understandably so.
Year Ending on Bum Note
Now, it seems that the year is ending on a similar bum note for many. I just got a request from a local lady to post this here to warn people not to return calls to any number beginning with: 00 252 70…..
The people ringing from that number usually ring just once and stop in hope of scamming the recipient into ringing back.
The lady who sent the text said she knows a few local people who have been caught out and she got a call from a similar number herself at 8am this morning but didn’t ring back.
Credit Drained
The scam earlier this year was Wangiri and it involved scammers leaving these numbers on people’s phones. Those who called back were caught, their credit drained or the calls were charged on their bills.
In the course of the January run of scams all the big mobile operators – sent out advice and warnings to their customers on how to avoid being cleaned out by the scammers:
00 252 is Prefix for Somalia
Do not call the number back: If it is a legitimate call the chances are that the caller will call you back or leave you a voicemail.
Be vigilant about protecting your number whenever possible, ensuring you are careful when answering calls to numbers you don’t recognise or calling an unrecognised number back after a missed call.
As a matter of interest the prefix numbers in the current scam are those for Somalia.
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