Resurgence of Wangiri Phone Scam: CA Warn Kenyans Against Returning Suspicious International Calls

NAIROBI Kenya May 19 -There is a resurgence of Wangiri phone scam where fraudsters lure unsuspecting mobile phone users to returning international calls upon which they are unknowingly redirected to premium numbers that drain their credit.

The fraudsters will call and hang up before it is answered and if the person calls back, he or she is re-routed to a premium rate number overseas and will be subsequently charged for the expensive call.

The fraudsters will then try keep you on the line for as long as possible. That way, you’ll run up expensive call charges, which will end up in the fraudster’s bank account.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), through the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC), on May 19 said they had received confirmed reports of the return of the scam.

This type of scam originated from Japan and is popularly known as “one ring and cut” scam – wan means “one” and giri means “hang up” in Japanese.

The CA warned that there has been an ongoing Wangiri scam in Kenya that has been reported by users on various platforms including social media.

During the calls, users are made to listen to a recorded message so as to keep the caller connected. The longer the caller stays connected, the more money the scammers make.

“In such a case, post-paid subscribers are likely to be unaware because they receive their bills at the end of the month. The pre-paid subscribers can only lose as much as their loaded credit,” the CA said.

In Kenya, many of the calls have been reported to be emanating from telephone numbers with the following codes: +51 (Peru), +64 (New Zealand), among others.

These telephone numbers are illegally purchased by these scammers from the Dark Web, which is a hidden part of the Internet, known for buying and selling illegal goods and services.

To protect themselves from the scam, the CA has advised members of the public not to call back any international number that they don’t recognize.

CA Director General/CEO Ezra Chiloba said those who are already victims should report the number to their service providers so that they can block the numbers.

“This stops other users from becoming victims,” he said.

The National KE-CIRT/CC is a multi-agency collaboration framework at the CA and the Kenya’s national trusted point of contact on cyber security matters.

It detects, prevents and responds to various cyber threats targeted at the country on a 24/7 basis, and coordinates response to cyber security matters at the national level in collaboration with relevant actors locally and internationally.

The National KE-CIRT/CC can be contacted via the email address incidents@ke-cirt.go.ke or through hot lines +254703 042700, +254730-172700 to report an incident or seek advice on cyber security.