Attention Vikings! A new, dangerous method of deceiving our community has emerged. Scammers are trying to exploit our common tendency to call back missed calls and, by calling from African numbers, expose us to huge costs. We appeal to you, call back wisely!
The President of the Office of Electronic Communications warns against mindlessly calling back missed calls from unknown numbers. It turns out that the people who allegedly tried to reach us are scammers calling from African numbers.
The mechanism used by scammers is based on our tendency to call back missed calls. Usually, in the evening or at night, we receive a very short call, practically a ring, which we cannot react to. The display shows a number starting with +22(5) or +24(3), thus deceptively resembling the Warsaw (+22) or Płock (+24) area codes. It's easy not to notice the additional digit in their long sequence. Thinking that someone tried to reach us for an important reason, we call back. This person answers but doesn't respond, while hoping we stay on the line for as long as possible. Even if we hear the typical signal for ending a call, as long as we don't hang up ourselves, the call continues, and we are charged a high fee according to international rates. It turns out that we called back a scammer who was calling us from numbers in the Republic of the Congo or Ivory Coast, whose area codes start with +243 and +225. The Office of Electronic Communications is also receiving information about increasingly frequent calls from numbers belonging to the numbering range used for premium-rate services, e.g., 708 XXX XXX, which are easily confused with ordinary Polish mobile numbers.
Together with the President of UKE, we appeal to you, Vikings – pay attention to unknown numbers that try to connect with you, call back wisely. Don't be fooled! Protect our community!
