Beware of calls from unknown numbers

KOLKATA: Think twice before you ring back after missing a call from an unidentified number that seems to have been generated from a foreign country. It could well be from a racket and a call-back would come at a premium, some times as high as Rs 200 a minute. Even receiving the call will leave you poorer by Rs 60-100. But the involvement of some dealers of top service providers — with offices in Dum Dum Road and the airport area — with these gangs, which claim these are 'verification' calls from the service providers, makes it scarier for subscribers.

The detective department that is probing these mysterious calls is clueless about how the revenue model works out for the fraudsters. Prima facie, they believe a part of the amount you pay will be deposited in the accounts of the fraudsters. The hi-tech telecommunication technology that was developed mainly for public services has turned into an easy money-making device for fraudsters.

This is how it works. The gangs hire a premium-rate number from a telecom provider based in countries like Poland, Papua New Guinea and other African and east European nations. The most common numbers bothering Kolkata citizens are +45 (Denmark), +48 (Poland), +245 (Guinea-Bissau), +248 (Seychelles), +243 (Congo) and + 246 (British Indian Ocean Territory). The fraudsters then give missed calls to unsuspecting people. As the latter call back, they pay high charges and a part of the money goes to the account of the fraudsters who hire the premium numbers. They even hear warnings at the other end, including termination of services.

The fraud, which started nearly a decade ago in Europe and western countries, has hit Kolkata from the beginning of this year. Telecom experts say it is a re-run of 2012 when calls from +224 (Guinea) flooded Kolkata. It is also known as the 'Wangiri Fraud' and originated in Japan in early-2000. 'Wangiri' literally means 'one ring and cut'.

Over the past weeks, several Kolkatans have received missed calls from numbers that start with +22455 and +248. Among them is a top cop in Kolkata Police, the daughter of the PA to the mayor and even a software professional. "Apparently, it looks like a Mumbai number as the city's STD code is 22. I have several friends in Mumbai and the call came on January 1. Without any suspicion, I called back only to realize it was a set-up. By then, Rs 160 had been deducted from my account," said the IT professional.

Clueless subscribers called up their cellphone service providers who clarified that the call had been made to international premium-rate numbers and the best way to avert such fraud was not call back to these numbers. A probe revealed that some fraudsters sitting abroad had been making missed calls to Indian cellphone users randomly with the help of a database. They have hired a few international premium rate numbers (IPRN). The IPRN service providers offer a lucrative rate for their rental services. Premium Telco is such an IPRN provider which offers $.08 for every incoming call to the hired number.

According to telecom experts, such IPRN providers receive 700 to 1,000 calls every day. For police, it's a 'salami fraud' that suggests the fraudsters are apparently getting a nominal amount, but swindle a hefty sum at the end of the day. Special additional CP (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh said he was aware of the rising menace. "We are trying to see if there is a local element associated with the fraud," said Ghosh. Sources said Kolkata Police was in touch with the Telecomm Regulatory Authority of India and even the RBI. "We are meeting RBI officials to try and sort out certain issues of bank fraud. We also plan to discuss this particular revenue model with them this week," said a senior police office The above is from the Times of india