In the online landscape, with the increasing penetration of mobile phones in countries, including India, the call forwarding scam has been in existence for a while now—with fraudsters finding new and unique ways to trick their victims.
There are a few ways that you can use to prevent falling prey to such scams. But, before we learn the ways, let’s understand how the call forwarding scam works.
As per Truecaller, scammers may call you, pretending to be from your mobile operator or internet service provider (ISP)—claiming that your account has been compromised or there is a problem with your SIM card. And then, they may request you to dial a specific number that begins with 401. This action will activate call forwarding—enabling the scammer to access your calls and receive OTPs to access your bank accounts and other sensitive data.
Follow these tips to prevent this scam:
- Users can install apps like TrueCaller to protect themselves from call-forwarding scams by verifying the caller’s number. Users should avoid answering calls from unknown numbers claiming to be customer service representatives, especially the numbers marked as ‘spam’ or ‘fraud.’
- Never dial codes or send SMS from your number if someone unknown asks you to, and check with your service provider before doing so.
- Never share sensitive information, like OTPs, with random callers who may be scammers pretending to be from your ISP or mobile network provider.
- You can also reach out to the authorities to report a particular scam. If you get scammed and the scammers end up forwarding your calls, contact your mobile network provider (such as Jio, Airtel, etc.) and ask for help in removing call forwarding.
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