This Is DoT’s Warning To Mobile Users On International Calls.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has notified its users to be careful about international calls. The government regulated telecom body has sent out a text message which reads, “While receiving an international call, if an Indian number or no number is displayed on your phone, please inform on the DoT toll-free number 1800110420 or 1963.” If any user gets a call and the notification says “no number” then chances are it could be a fraudulent call. As per DoT, the user should immediately notify the telecom body in the event of such a call.
It’s not clear what has prompted DoT to send this message but international call frauds have been quite common where users get calls from unknown numbers. These calls are generally a scam and must be avoided.
Other telecom operators too have a general warning about such international calls. For example, Airtel’s website has a section about it where it states, “We would like to issue a general advisory to caution Indian telecom customers who are being arbitrarily targeted by calls fraudulently claiming the recipient customer as being a Prize/Lottery Winner.”
How international calls scam/fraud works
In the case of international call frauds, users get a call from a country code (could be +92 or +375 or any other ) whereupon answering it, they are informed that they have won some lottery or prize. The scamster on the other end tries to get personal information in the process and may trick users to pay a commission in order to win the rewards from the lottery or a bogus prize. At times, it might not be through a call but via a text message as well. It’s advisable for all telecom users to not answer such calls or even if they receive a missed call then it’s better to not call back on that particular number.
