Thursday, January 05, 2012: If you are a Vodafone customer, you need to beware! Vodafone customers are receiving dubious calls from international numbers for the past two days. The company's investigators have found that the calls come from numbers beginning with +22455 and subscribers are asked to share their personal and banking details.
The ISD code reflect that the call is from Guinea, but investigators believe that the callers may not be physically present in that country and may be using a system to make the calls appear with that code. Vodafone has issued an advisory where the company has requested its customers not to respond to such calls and report about them to the company through call centres.
The callers use a very simple modus operandi. They just give a missed call to the subscriber. If the subscriber calls back, he is informed that he has won a lottery or a mobile handset. In some of the reported cases, the callers used abusive language as well.
According to experts quoted in a TOI report, these attacks are termed as 'Wangiri' and they were first spotted in Japan in 2002. The term 'Wangiri' means 'one (ring) and cut'. A computer is used in this system that dials many mobile numbers randomly using several phone lines. Such attacks were seen in nations like Japan and the UK in the past. Mobile subscribers in Uttar Pradesh reportedly faced a similar attack a few days ago.
This issue is being discussed on various forums over the Internet. The TOI report quoted one of the Vodafone subscribers on a forum, as saying, “When I answered, a heavily-accented woman was telling me that I'd won a prize and I had to submit my details before being given the prize. I asked them how was it that they entered me for a prize draw but didn't know my details. Then, they disconnected the call."
Some similar cases that have come to light involved subscribers being asked their personal details, and also deposit money in some Indian bank accounts. The investigating team from Vodafone says that the attackers have a good network in India as far as bank accounts are concerned. The primary motive behind such calls could not be found so far, but it looks like an attempt designed to take people's information and money.
This issue is being discussed on various forums over the Internet. The TOI report quoted one of the Vodafone subscribers on a forum, as saying, “When I answered, a heavily-accented woman was telling me that I'd won a prize and I had to submit my details before being given the prize. I asked them how was it that they entered me for a prize draw but didn't know my details. Then, they disconnected the call."
Some similar cases that have come to light involved subscribers being asked their personal details, and also deposit money in some Indian bank accounts. The investigating team from Vodafone says that the attackers have a good network in India as far as bank accounts are concerned. The primary motive behind such calls could not be found so far, but it looks like an attempt designed to take people's information and money.
I just got such an attempt of +22455 on my BASE +32485xxxxxxxx account. Just to tell you that this system is this active and that you have to be aware about it.
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