WANGIRI SCAM SWEEPING ACROSS NIGERIA

Wangiri scam may be new to many phone users especially in Nigeria, awareness is necessary to avoid this phone fraud currently sweeping across Nigeria.

"Wangiri" is a Japanese word meaning "one ring and drop". One-ring scam is a telephone scam where fraudsters trick phone users into calling premium rate numbers. Telephone scammers usually obtain these numbers from the dark web or through other illegitimate means.

This scam has been sweeping tens of thousands mobile operators' customers across Nigeria recently, from reports and first-hand experience. This is how it works: A person finds a missed call at odd hours of the day from an international number (e.g. +235) and you are tempted to call back (social engineering). You may notice another one-ring call with a different number of the same int'l code (e.g. +235) at work hours. The idea is to get callers to call back the number & if they do, they will be routed to an expensive, premium rate service while the scammers get paid by your Service Provider (SA) for the call service.

It is also difficult to block the "strange" wangiri calls as the numbers keeps changing for each missed calls. This situation can be disturbing, but calm is needed. The scam may linger for a particular phone user within a few days.

There is only one way to protect yourself from this form of social engineering fraud, and it is to stay away from a missed call from a strange international number at midnight or during working hours. Do not call back! A legitimate caller will call back later or send an SMS. Also report to your SA.