New Wave Of Phone Scammers Target Maltese Phone Numbers
Scammers have been targeting Maltese phone numbers over the last few days as more and more people are reporting unknown numbers trying to call them.
The scammers have been calling “a lot of different numbers”, and the police have been receiving many reports about these calls from worried people.
A representative from the Malta Cyber Crime Unit explained to Lovin Malta what they believe is happening.
“The numbers so far seem to originate from Morocco, Helsinki, Finland, and Comoros, but in reality you cannot trust these numbers as they are computer generated,” he said.
So far, it is unconfirmed who or what is behind these calls.
“We haven’t confirmed an exact person, but these are clearly scammers.”
“Basically the system works by calling a person through these phone numbers, there’s a pre-recorded message within the phone call, this pre-recorded message states something important such as the receiver having a bank transfer or something, then hangs up, and basically it tries to con people into calling back, so when they call back, money is taken from the mobile’s credit, or if they have some type of contract they will receive a fee at the end of the month,” he explained.
So far, they have only been recieving reports from Maltese nationals, so this might very well be specifically aimed at Malta.
However, it does seem the scam is limited to your phone’s credit, and only works if you call the number back after they cut off.
“The phone calls aren’t directly related to bank accounts or that kind of thing, so the worst that could happen is that fee at the end of the month,” the Cyber Crime representative pointed out.
Either way, be wary of answering strange phone calls, and if the caller is promising something too good to be true – it’s probably too good to be true.
Have you received any strange phone calls recently?
Let us know in the comments below.
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