Beware Of Missed Calls From These International Numbers, Police Warns Of Phone Scam
FilePic: Shutterstock
In a statement released yesterday, Bukit Aman has warned Malaysians to be wary of returning missed calls from certain numbers originating from overseas.
"Royal Malaysian Police have detected a phone scam through message spread on Whatsapp about a "missed call" racket from the numbers +265882615012 and +265882615017 which are designed to trap mobile phone users who return the calls.
"Unsuspecting victims who return the call to either of these numbers will incur exorbitant charges from the call provider involved in the scam.
"Unsuspecting victims who return the call to either of these numbers will incur exorbitant charges from the call provider involved in the scam.
"According to police investigations, both these numbers originate from Malawi and have been classified as 'Harassment Call Terror' and 'Call Scam' by many international websites.
"We advice that mobile phone users who receive missed calls from these numbers to refrain from returning the calls to avoid any unnecessary charges being billed to them," Inspector-General of Police Secretariat (Corporate Communications Head) Asst Comm Datin Asmawati Ahmad advised in the media statement dated November 11.
In the last few years, many international tech and internet watchdog sites have warned of these 'one ring hang-ups' scams where the fraudsters only call a victim's number and let it ring once before they hang up leaving a missed call message.
Many netizens have shared warnings of how a return call to these missed numbers will instantly incur massive per-minute call charges on top of the international calling rate
Some scammers are also able to scan your smartphone for bank or credit card details while you are still connected to the call which they can copy. The police have frequently advised phone users to simply not return calls to numbers which are unfamiliar to them.
Pic: PDRM
- mD
