What is a Wangiri Scam?
This scam gets its name from the Japanese word Wangiri — ‘wan’ means ‘one’ and ‘giri’ means ‘hang-up’. Victims receive a phone call from an overseas number, which rings just once. If they return the call, they will hear an advertisement for a subscription to a premium chat line or internet services. Victims are charged a premium for this call.
In another variation of this scam, the caller, claiming to be an official, leaves a voice message informing the victim that there has been an emergency to which they must respond by calling them back. The latest version involves WhatsApp messages with contact attachments. Victims incur a hefty fee when they call that contact.
- Calls from unknown overseas numbers that only ring once. Sometimes, these numbers are just slightly different from each other. This could indicate a bank of automated machines making random calls
- Do not return the call
- Look up numbers on the internet to check for reports of scams from that number
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