Just what we needed – another scam plaguing Sunset Country and the vulnerable people that live within it. This one took a little digging around to figure out what exactly was happening, and why it was happening.
The last few weeks I’ve been getting a lot of International calls from Azerbaijan at the wee hours of the morning, and I almost never answer for the ‘obvious’ reasons. Usually, it rings once and ONLY once, disconnecting soon after.
Why does it happen? What’s the purpose? How does the scam even work?
It’s called the One Ring Scam.
The scammer will hire an international premium rate number (IPRN) from a local phone company. After this, the scammer will give you a call (one ring) and then disconnect. The natural response is the thought that you’ve missed something important, prompting you to call back. And your call will be taken.
However, instead of threatening you with arrests if you don’t hand over your SIN number, they say nothing at all.
Eventually you’ll start to get frustrated with the lack of response on the other side, and hang up not even realizing that you’ve lost a good sum of money for making an international call. Some might not find out until their monthly phone bill comes in!!! So can you get your money back? Nope.
When you respond to the missed call on your own will, the phone networks are legally allowed to collect the charges from you.
It’s scummy, it’s grimey and it’s absolutely infuriating.
So if you ever get an International call from a foreign country in the wee hours – ignore it. Don’t call back, and block the number. I’d even recommend contacting your phone provider to let them know about the situation as well.
If there’s some vulnerable people in your life who aren’t wary when it comes to phone scams like these, now might be a good time to start the conversation.
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