The Civil Guard has warned on their social media about missed calls from unknown numbers. This is a very common type of scam, in which the scammers leave a missed call on your mobile phone using a number with a foreign prefix with the hopes that you call them back. The scammers only let the phone ring once so that you do not have enough time to answer it. When you return the call to see who it is, you are charged a special rate, from which the scammers take a commission.
The calls come from a foreign number, so it is very important that you check the prefix of the missed calls before calling back, and do not pick up the phone if you receive a call with a foreign prefix as you may be charged even for just picking up the phone. Elderly people tend to be especially susceptible to this type scam, or those who know little about how technology works.
At Axarfusion we care about the safety of our customers, so we are going to give you some tips on how to avoid this scam.
Most common prefixes in the Missed Call Scam
The Civil Guard has posted on its social networks which are the most common prefixes used by scammers to carry out this scam:
– (+355) Albania
– (+225) Ivory Coast
– (+233) Ghana
– (+234) Nigeria
The authorities recommend that under no circumstances should you return an international missed call without first knowing where the call is coming from. It should also be noted that the most commonly used prefix is (+355) Albania.
How to protect yourself against this scam
What to do when you receive a missed call from a foreign number? First of all, you should check if any of the prefixes correspond to those mentioned above. If they do, do not return the call under any circumstances.
FACUA, an association that fights for consumer rights, advises that if you see any type of unknown number in your missed calls (link to Missed calls: where to find them and what to do if you don’t receive them), you should do a Google search for any information about the number and to check where it comes from. To do this, go to Google or any other search engine and type “Who is the owner” followed by the number (example: Who is the owner +34 6***).
What you must do is block calls from any of these suspicious phone numbers. In the case of Apple devices, just add the contact to your phonebook, and in the phonebook options go down to ”Block contact”. In the case of Android devices, you must register the number, click on the three dots on the side and choose the “block” option.
In short, if you want to avoid this scam, only answer calls from numbers that you know and trust. And remember, that you should never call a number back if you do not know who called you first.
