Wangiri scam: Kenyans warned against returning unknown international calls

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has raised alarm over the alleged return of the infamous ‘Wangiri’ phone scam.

How the scam works, according to the authority, is that one receives a call from an unknown international number, but the phone only rings once before hanging up; however, when the receiver calls back the number, then their airtime is drained.

The fraud model was first reported in Kenya in 2018 after an alert by telecommunications giant Safaricom, but CA – through its National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC) – however says it is making its way back.

“The scam is designed to lure innocent and unsuspecting mobile phone users to returning the ‘urgent’ international calls upon which they are unknowingly redirected to premium numbers that drain their credit,” stated CA Director General Ezra Chiloba in a statement to newsrooms on Friday.

“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.”

Chiloba added: “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 further stated that Kenyans who have fallen victim to the fraud scheme in recent times have been receiving calls from illegally purchased numbers with prefixes originating from Peru (+51) and New Zealand (+64).

“The authority is therefore advising the public to beware, do not call back any international number that you don’t recognize,” Chiloba stated.

“If you happen to already be a victim, report the number to your service provider so that they can block the numbers. This stops other users from becoming victims.”

The ‘Wangiri’ scam originated from Japan, where ‘wan’ means ‘one ring and cut’ and ‘giri’ means ‘hang up.’