They call me on my iPhone, I hear two rings and when I pick up they have already hung up. They still call me, I quickly pick up, but they hang up on me. I’m looking for the number online: 961 121 009, from Valencia. Initial research indicates this is telemarketing and complaints about missed calls have been coming in for less than 10 minutes. What’s going on, isn’t phone spam supposed to have been eradicated?
Quite the contrary: Fraudsters have learned to do business with these one-touch missed calls, which involve special rates. On the expense, the scammer takes a commission.
The Civil Guard warns: the missed call scam is dangerous
This scam began, as documented by the Spanish Civil Guard, with international calls originating from the following prefixes:
- 355, from Albania
- 225, from Ivory Coast
- 233, from Ghana
- 234, from Nigeria
These foreign calls all follow the same pattern: they receive a percentage of the rate they charge the victim. The more time you spend on the phone, the more they pocket.
However, these scams have become more widespread and it is now common to receive similar missed calls from prefixes in India and even the UK. In my case, to close the loop, I receive national calls, from prefixes of Zaragoza, Valencia, Seville and especially Madrid. As you can see from the previous image, except for dropped calls, all others are a constant, invasive siege that always resolves the same thing: they call, I pick up to answer and they hang up.
Every time I call, the result is the same: an agency or advertising agency puts me on hold, refers me to a service to offer me something: mobile rates, asks me for personal information about my bills, my consumption and who I have. contracted services with energy, gas and others.
These phones, at least, do not have additional costs for not being located outside the geographical limits, but the formula is the same: They pique your curiosity so that you call and you are the one spending money for nothing, not even for a service that interests you. Pure phone spam.
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