The Director General of the Communication Authority of Kenya Ezra Chiloba on Friday, May 19, warned Kenyans about the return of the infamous Wangiri scam.
Through a statement, he noted that National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC) had confirmed that they had recorded several incidences of the case.
“Wangiri phone scam occurs when scammers call your mobile phone, which rings once, and hang up before you can answer it.
“This type of scam originated from Japan and is popularly known as "one ring and cut" scam-wan means "one" and giri means "hang up" in Japanese,” the statement read in part.
The most common calls come from +51 (Peru) and +64 (New Zealand) among many others.
“During the calls, users are made to listen to a recorded message so as to keep the caller connected. The longer the caller stays connected, the more money the scammers make.
“In such a case, post-paid subscribers are likely to be unaware because they receive their bills at the end of the month. The pre-paid subscribers can only lose as much as their loaded credit,” CA stated.
Kenyans.co.ke reported the scam that affected many Kenyans in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
How to protect yourself
Firstly, do not call back unknown phone calls from international phone numbers.
Secondly, report unknown phone calls from international numbers. This stops the scammers from getting more victims.
“Members of the public are advised to contact the National KE-CIRT/CC via the email address incidents@ke-cirt.go.ke or through the dedicated hotlines +254703 042700, +254 730-172700 to report an incident or seek advice on cyber security,” detail the communications regulator.
Thirdly, use caller identification (ID) applications. They display caller information and can be used to block spam phone numbers.
Examples of caller ID applications include Truecaller, Showcaller, and Hiya.
