Kenyans warned against returning missed international calls

Communications Authority Director-General Francis Wangusi (PHOTO: FILE)

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenyans have been warned against returning missed calls from international numbers they do not recognise.

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) said on Thursday there has been a re-emergence of scammers using the ploy to defraud unsuspecting mobile phone users.

“The CA has received confirmed fresh reports of the resurgence of Wangiri, an international phone scam that was first reported in the country in January this year,” said Director-General Francis Wangusi in a statement. Victims of the scam receive a brief call from unknown international numbers prompting them to call back.

Premium numbers

The call is then re-routed to international premium numbers overseas and the user is billed exorbitantly while listening to pre-recorded messages.

“The longer the victims stay on the line the more money they lose to the scammers and post-paid users, therefore, stand to lose a lot because they receive their phone bill at the end of the month,” said Mr Wangusi.

Most of the calls are reported to bear such international dialing codes such as +41 (Switzerland), +963 (Syria), +252 (Somalia) or +37 (Latvia) and others, with the scammers said to purchase users’ phone numbers from the dark web.