Warnings are spreading across social media that advises readers not to call back a variety of phone numbers should you receive a missed call from them, since doing so will allow criminals to perform certain undesirable acts on your phone.
Depending on what variant of the warning you read, these undesirable acts could be “copying your contact list”, charging excessive call fees or accessing your SIM card.
A recent example can be seen below –
*Urgent Very Urgent …*
Please pass around to your family and friends…!!!People have been receiving *calls from*
+375602605281, +37127913091 +37178565072 +56322553736 +37052529259 +255901130460
or any number starting from
+375, +371 number +381
One ring & hang up.
*If you call back, they can copy your contact list in 3sec* &
If U have bank or Credit card details on your phone, they can copy that too…
+375 is from Belarus. +371 is code for Lativa. +381 Serbia +563- Valparaiso +370- Vilnius +255- Tanzania
These calls may under ISIS
*Don’t answer* or *Call back.*
*Also, Don’t Press*
*#90 or #09* on your Mobile when asked by any caller.
*It’s a New Trick of Terrorists to access your SIM card* Make calls at your expense and frame you as a criminal.*Forward this message* to as many friends as U can to stop it.
TLDR: What’s true? Should you get a missed call from an unknown number with an unknown or suspicious prefix, then we recommend not returning that call since scammers can and do trick victims into returning calls that connect to premium numbers that can result in unwanted charges, albeit not as high as many of these warnings claim.
TLDR: What’s false? The phone numbers quoted in the warnings have been circulating for years and as such are not likely to be connected to any current scams, if indeed they ever were used in scams. Additionally claims that crooks can access your contacts list or SIM card are completely false. There are no scams that can access that information simply by tricking a victim into calling a number.
Warnings about suspicious phone numbers leaving missed calls on your phone have been spreading across the Internet for years, and they were rooted in some truth. Dubbed the “one ring scam”, crooks would purposely call a victim’s phone and disconnect quickly, leaving a missed call alert. The victim would return the call, only to be charged an international call fee, some of which could be paid to the crook.
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However most of the information in these warnings is incorrect. For one, the phone numbers given in the warnings have been spreading around for years. For example, this warning quotes one of the numbers and was spreading as far back as 2012!
People have been receiving calls from+375602605281 or any number starting from +375 number one ring & hang up. If you call back it’s one of those Numbers that are charged 15-30$ & they can copy ur contact list in 3sec & if u have bank or credit card details on your phone, they can copy that too.
+375 is from Belarus From Afghanistan..
Don’t answer or call back.
Additionally, claims that victims will be charged between $15-$30 are also unfounded. International calls will not charge this much for a connection charge and a victim would have to remain connected to the call for some time to accumulate such a charge.
Additional claims that calling back a number results in your phone’s contact list being compromised or it allows terrorists to access your SIM card are pure nonsense. That is not technically possible and is just scaremongering that’s not based on reality whatsoever.
By all means warn your friends to avoid returning suspicious missed calls, but don’t spread misinformation as this just confuses readers and detracts from a genuine scam.