JAMAICA is the latest country to have been affected by the ‘Wangiri Scam’, which resulted in hundreds of phone customers receiving missed calls from the +48 area code, originating in Poland, over the weekend.
The scam, translated in Japanese as ‘one ring and cut’, literally means that the caller calls once, then hangs up. By leaving the missed call message on the user’s phone, the scammers hope that the users will call back, and when they do, they pocket the revenue from the call. This fraud method was said to have originated in Japan and has caused millions of dollars in losses globally.
Yesterday social media users were first to report the scam, with hundreds of people using Facebook and Twitter to voice their experiences.
Two Digicel customers told the Jamaica Observer that they had returned the calls from their postpaid numbers, only to hear music when they called. They await their bills to see how much money they have lost.
Others reported on Facebook and Twitter to getting calls in the wee hours of Sunday morning, some calling back and losing their credit.
Digicel, whose customers seemed to have been most affected, said yesterday that it has been blocking some overseas calls from numbers it believes are involved in the scam.
The company also urged customers not to return the calls.
Source-Jamaica Observer
