Another scammer scheme? “Missed calls appear on the phone. When calling the number back, the addressee claims that he did not call”

Lately I’ve been getting missed calls on my phone. When the number is called back, the addressee claims that he did not call. A colleague had such an episode with a number found in his phone contacts, and a missed call also appeared on the recipient’s phone. Could this be another scammer scheme? What to do? Ask Agita U.

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“This type of fraud is called spoofing [mānīšanos]. That is, fraudsters use technology to generate a call from a randomly or intentionally selected number X (which may or may not have a real user) and call number Y. If the user of number Y does not answer, but later wants to call back, he will be transferred to customer X, who is the previous the call will not know anything.

Scammers aim to extract data directly during the call in order to use it later. This type of scam does not incur hidden costs for the calls themselves.

Technologically, it is difficult to proactively prevent this type of fraud, but we actively cooperate, for example, with Tele2 colleagues in Sweden, to protect our network and customers as much as possible,” says Oskars Fīrmanis, head of public relations of Tele2 in Latvia.

Reinis Pudāns, head of Bite Latvija’s internal security processes, confirms that there has recently been a tendency for fraudsters to use customer numbers of Latvian operators. Indeed, the user of the number himself may not know that someone has used his number. When receiving such calls, you must be careful and remember not to reveal information about yourself, your data, passwords and the like during the conversation.

“Unfortunately, such calls are difficult to trace. Fraudsters are becoming more and more creative – they use different schemes and numbers from different operators or even numbers from other countries. Considering that phone fraud is not the only type of fraud, we invite our customers to use the Antivirus Plus service, which protects when using the Internet: both on the phone and on other home devices. In case of necessity, Bite Latvija can only help if a confirmation is required that our client, i.e. the real user of the number, has not made such an outgoing call at all,” explains Bite Latvija’s representative.

LMT representative Valdis Jalinskis says that fraudsters use various tools to gain access to people’s data and gain financial benefits: e-mail, phone calls and text messages, as well as fake contests on social networks. Therefore, LMT also calls on such communication to be treated critically and carefully evaluated.

In cases similar to those presented in the question, LMT will contact electronic communications operators from whom fraud attempts have been received with a request to stop cooperation with service providers who deliver such calls and text messages to them. LMT also proactively blocks the possibility of calling its customers to the official phone numbers of security services and payment institutions from unauthorized connections. As a result, fraudsters use the telephone numbers of real or imaginary ordinary users of Latvia and various countries.

Unfortunately, existing technological solutions and globalization create ample opportunities for fraudsters to express themselves. In such cases, fraud can only be evidenced by the content of the transmitted information, which is unknown to the operators. Such numbers cannot be blocked by operators, and blocking may affect the ability of honest users to use communication services.

On the other hand, automatic restriction of fraudulent text messages is not possible, because LMT does not analyze the content of text messages and fraudsters can easily change numbers.

LMT advises people not to be gullible and be careful when communicating with unknown numbers, do not follow the links provided in text messages. In order to be sure that the link does not contain a virus, we invite you to use the LMT service Internet sargas. Under no circumstances should you reveal your e-identification data to the caller.

In case of similar frauds, please inform the LMT as well. This will help the operators to take action against the operators involved in call servicing and block the service provider that sends such call traffic into the international communication network.

If a Tele2 customer receives a suspicious text message, he can forward it to the toll-free number 1677. This text message will be promptly analyzed and, if necessary, blocked, thereby protecting other customers.

“It’s important to remember that when in doubt, you won’t be rude, but considerate, so don’t be afraid to interrupt the conversation or take longer to clarify the details. For communication with service providers, use the official communication channels that have been used before or that are available on the official website of the company, service provider,” recommends Tele2 representative Oskars Fīrmanis.

Be skeptical! Always be suspicious of unexpected requests for personal or financial information, especially if they are requested via SMS or calls.
Check! If you received a suspicious message or call, contact the company named by the caller, such as a bank, using the contacts listed on the company’s official website and verify the authenticity of the request.
Don’t click! Do not download and install suspicious, unfamiliar software on your smart devices, open unverified websites and enter your personal data on websites of unknown origin.
Uses two-factor authentication (2FA)! Use 2FA wherever possible to further protect your smart devices and the information on them.
Get educated! Share information with friends, family and colleagues to stay safe together.

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