An unknown number tried to call you, but you couldn’t pick up in time? Beware! This may be a scam that is wreaking havoc in France at the moment and which could cost you dearly!
You receive a phone call, but it disconnects after the first or second ring. Very often, you don’t have time to pick up. Curious, you look at your screen, which displays a missed call from an unknown number. But who could it be? And to find out, you are about to call back this mysterious correspondent. Above all, don’t do anything about it! You risk calling a premium rate number and losing money.
This is an increasingly widespread telephone scam called wangiri – literally “one ring and cut” in Japanese –, voice spam or even ping calls. It consists of making your telephone ring without giving you time to answer, so that the number appears on the list of missed calls, and thus ensuring that you call back a premium rate number, often located abroad. To prevent you from being suspicious, scammers do not hesitate to make their calls from numbers in 01, 02, 04, etc. Once they have you online, they make sure to keep you there as long as possible.
And the bill can quickly become steep if you take too long. For these malicious actors, the opportunity can be lucrative, as they increase the number of calls, often resorting to automated solutions. Small variation: sometimes, they give you time to pick up, before cutting off the discussion just after your “hello?”, again so that you call the number back.
Be careful though, if your phone rings, but the person hangs up immediately, it is not necessarily wangiri. You may also be dealing with a telemarketing campaign that uses a predictive dialing system. It will attempt to connect you to an advisor, but the operation may fail, ending the call abruptly.
To protect yourself, we can only advise you, if you receive a missed call from an unknown number, not to call it back. If it’s really important, the person will contact you or will leave you a message on the answering machine or by SMS. You can also block unknown numbers directly in your phone settings, or opt for an app that identifies unwanted calls. Usually, your operator offers a function of this type. And if you’re really worried about missing something important, find out who the number belongs to by searching the SVA reverse directory before you do anything.