Lately, many of my friends have reported that they get missed calls from unknown numbers. It rings once and then the call gets disconnected. Sometimes, the call may also ring for the full duration. When the phone number is traced, people usually find that the call originated from countries like Burundi, Malawi, Pakistan, Belarus and Russia. Mostly you get such calls from African countries. And people wonder why they are getting such calls from unknown numbers in foreign countries. Let me tell you straightaway that it is a scam. You should not pick such calls nor should you call back on these unknown numbers. Now, let’s understand this issue in a bit more depth.
Why Am I Getting Calls From Countries Like Burundi, Malawi, Pakistan, Russia etc.?
Well, first of all, it’s none of your fault! In all probability someone is trying to trick you and steal your money. If you get calls from phone numbers beginning with country codes of Burundi (+257), Malawi (+265), Pakistan (+92), Russia (+7), Nigeria (+234), Tunisia (+216), Belarus (+375) etc.; do not pick such calls if the number is unknown to you. These calls are part of a scam that has been in existence since early 2000s. The scam is said to be originated in Japan and it used to be called Wangiri. The word wangiri is Japanese means one ring and cut. And this is exactly what the scammers do.
How does the One Ring Scam Work?
The scammer will hire an international premium rate number (IPRN) from a local phone company. After this, the scammer will give you one ring and then disconnect the call. You will think that you missed an important call (that too a call from foreign country! it must be important! –that’s how a lot of people think). So, you will call back on the same number and your call will be taken. Usually, nobody will talk to you from the other side and you’ll keep on saying something like “hello, hello, hello, is anybody there?!“. Eventually, receiving no answer, you will get frustrated and hit the disconnect button on your mobile phone. However, by then you would have lost quite a bit of money.
Phone Scams: You should beware of the calls coming from foreign unknown phone numbers
Sometimes, these scam number will redirect your call to other very expensive numbers which offer adult content. The longer you stay on call, the higher you’ll be charged. To keep you on call for longer period, please-hold-the-line music could also be played until you get frustrated and cut the call yourself.
In addition to the missed calls, you may also receive SMS/WhatsApp/Email that would ask you to “please urgently call back” on a given (fraud) number.
You call and you lose money!
Why was Money Deducted from My Phone Balance?
After the call, when you will check your prepaid phone balance, you will realize that you have lost a large sum of money for making an international call.
You might be wondering why do people make such one ring call scams? What benefit do they get out of it? Well, apparently, these scammers get their commission from the phone companies whose premium rate number they use to trick you. They may get up to $1 for every incoming call!
Hundreds of thousands of people get tricked everyday; so you can imagine the kind of easy money scammers are making. It is a nexus between individuals and some phone companies in Africa and countries of erstwhile USSR.
Can You Get Your Money Back?
Unfortunately not. You can not get the money back as it is already charged for the call that you made yourself. Technically, the scammers are not offenders in this case. They simply offer you a bait and you take it. You make the call in response to the missed call on your own will. So, the phone networks are legally allowed to collect the charges from you.
How to Avoid Getting Scammed by One Ring Scammers?
There are a few things that you can do to avoid getting trapped in such scams. Here are some suggestions for TechWelkin readers:
- Do not pick any call that is coming from other countries where the phone number remains unrecognized.
- Give special attention to calls coming from African and erstwhile USSR countries. I am giving a list of more suspicious countries below. Don’t take calls from these countries if the number is not saved in your phone book.
- If you’re really expecting a call from these countries, it is better to first receive the phone number through WhatsApp or SMS or Email and save it in your phone book.
- If you miss such a one ring scam call —do not call back.
- If you’re unsure about the origin of call, you should look up for the country code in Google. The search will tell you the country of origin.
- Use mobile apps like TrueCaller to identify unknown numbers. Do not pick an unidentified number unless TrueCaller gives you information.
- Report all the suspicious calls to your phone operator.
- You can use various call blocking apps to block a particular number. If the spammer is using different numbers, you can also block an entire country code.
List of Countries to Watch out for in the One Ring Scam
- +221 – Senegal
- +222 – Mauritania
- +223 – Mali
- +224 – Guinea
- +225 – Côte d’Ivoire
- +226 – Burkina Faso
- +227 – Niger
- +228 – Togo
- +229 – Benin
- +257 – Burundi
- +265 – Malawi
- +92 – Pakistan
- + 7 – Russia
- +234 – Nigeria
- +216 – Tunisia
- +375 – Belarus
- +91 – India
- +20 – Egypt
- +235 – Chad
- +381 – Serbia
- +994 – Azerbaijan
- +676 – Tonga
I hope that this article has helped you in understanding the one ring scam. I advise you not to pick calls from unknown numbers that originate from foreign countries. Today’s world is full of digital frauds. Please be safe. If you have faced the one ring scam, please share your experience in the comments section below so that other readers can benefit from your experience and advice. Thank you for using TechWelkin!
My phone call the numbers automatically changes deducted from my airtime how can I secure my phone and Sims from calling such scams numbers
You can add Valenzuela to that list of countries.
Today was the first for me. I got a call from 58 1071-8043. I recognized that it was an international number so i looked up the code 58 on Google, sure enough, it was from Valenzuela. SMH
I would like to report what may be a variation to the scam:
I had a missed call from my son on my cell. I contacted him by other means (we never use the mobile phone line, but WhatsApp) and he confirmed that he had not called, there is no record of it on his cell.
I have been receiving a one ring call from different numbers with Burundi Country code +257 persistently every day for more than one week now but I have refused to yield until I decided to check the Country that use that code, I’m glad I came across this article just now, it’s really educative, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for publishing the message. This is really useful. I got a call from +256700051847 (Unknown). It was just a one ring and cut. Seems to be a number from Uganda. I was worried if someone is trying to reach me but bit skeptical.
Now, I understand it is a spam. Thanks again.
I got a call early August 2022 from a number with Italian land-code 0039. The rest of the number was incorrect to be an Italian number.. I did not understand that.. there was a “0” zero before the municipality number, which should not be there when calling internationally.
Now the situation would be that I was just having several Italian contacts concerning business and science interests. .So I called the number back, thinking it might be one of my contacts.. Fortunately the number did not pick up, a voice stated that the number did not exist.. I tried the number without the zero and fortunately the same voice message that the number did not exits…
My wive later told me that the phone companies are working hard to try to stop these scams and are branding thousands of foreign numbers each week as dangerous and block them
Same thing to me,i had a call from mali at night but did not pick or call back so thanks for your advice
Me too. I had a missed call from Burundi (257) and was initially going to call back. Thank goodness I searched for the country area code and came upon TechWelKin. It saved me from calling back.
I’ve been receiving these calls oftenly and I have one from Tunisia which calls me every day in the same time but good enough I don’t pick and I don’t call back thx so much for this educative advice
Thanks for your advise techwelkin , am currently missing calls from Mali on +223. I was already suspicious.
I recently got this kind of one call spams but country code was +501. Fortunately every time it calls I was asleep😅 But it really worries me cause I don’t have any business or any relatives who might call me from a foreign country. This information was really helpful. Thank you so much.🥰
I am in Nigeria and I’m getting calls from mail, Morocco, Burundi and pakistan 🤦🏿♀️It’s super annoying. I think if you aren’t expecting a call just ignore it! If it’s important they will email or WhatsApp you. I’ve been blocking the numbers it’s frustrating.
I got called by an unknown number I felt insecure at first but thanks for the info. it happens recently when I filled up a profile because I’m searching for my project and in order to answer my question I needed to sign up and the idiot me, I did sign up my true personal data. here’s the ex no. +44 808-1964-149, +1 646-8130-131. it said UK and New york. but idk. hope it’s just a misunderstanding.
Im in Nigeria and be getting several one ring calls from Mali and I keep blocking them . To my shock my wife has just started recieving from Burkina Faso, infact one just came in 12 minutes ago & she didn’t pick as usual. I googled & came across your educating post. Thanks so much for the information.
I’ve been receiving these calls oftenly and I have one from Tunisia which calls me every day in the same time but good enough I don’t pick and I don’t call back thx so much for this educative advice
I noticed that when I enter my phone number on a site whether genuine or not, I start getting calls from various countries. The site in which I have entered my phone number looked genuine and has an Australian domain. After one minute and for 90 minutes, I received the following one-ring phone calls:
From Hong Kong +852 128 768 08
From Hong King +852 128 355 06
From Ireland +353 48 934 938
From New Zealand +64 4 940 4840
I was always wondering what is the benefit of someone ringing and hanging up. Now, I understand the scam after reading this valuable article
Oh my god! I got a call from Nigeria here’s the number +234 706 462 1423 it was calling for so long that I answered it and then it disconnected without saying even one word, maybe they disconnected because I have 0 balance HAHAHAHAHA lol
Just got one from Burundi +257 . Dont have any contacts there so i didnt answer . Get similar ones from Belgium . Did not know Scam so first time answered and it was a ladys voice speaking rapidly in French which I dont know .They get you fooled though as you keep explaining that can they say it in English until you shut it off . By then I must have lost a lot of money but I did not even think of checking cause I didnt realise it . Thanks for the advice . I now know better .
Thanks for this important information!
Me and my wife received strange calls today from Tunisia, the number was +216 25981707. I am always suspicious about such strange calls so I did not answer and immediately put the number to my block list. I also did this with my wife’s phone.
Thank you for all your info.
Saturday, 21st November 2020 @18:35pm, I received two calls from the listed numbers +22394326249 and +22391328528.
I answered the first call, but then realised that it was most probably a scam. Thankfully, no money was taken from credit. I googled the +223 and saw that it was a Premium Rate number from Mali.
About 5 minutes later, I received a call from the second number, but completely ignored it. A SCAM
I actually experience one right away,and immediately Google,and saw it was a scam, one ring call, thank to Google for giving us important information to help protect us in our society……in this world full of fraudster
Million thanks for the article. I searched on google about this past few months but i didn’t find any article addressing this issue.
From day one i was very suspicious of these calls.
In the beginning i got Maximum two calls in a day from countries like Tanzania, Kazakhstan, Burundi (I am from Namibia). One day i picked up one such call, just out of curiosity. A lady was speak like a looped voice ” I want to be your friend”LOL. With time the frequency of calls increased instead of decreasing. My solution? I downloaded a calls blacklist App and threw in there all number starting with those suspicious country codes. Now i am never bothered anymore.
Yes the same thing happend to me they call me on WhatsApp tooo and also I have one private number who has been calling me every day for months but I have set my call settings to auto rejects the calls straight away. I once even had someone who started to scream and say weird stuff very creepy. Thank you for sharing your way of ending it I’ll be downloading it right away.
I thank they are back in action. I had a “missed call” from Senegal +221-703-337-191 this morning.
Of course I have blocked it. Probably they abuse COVID-19 scare.
Cheers
As people have pointed out, this is a scam. For me, it started with receiving several cals a day from various African countries, ringing once or twice and hanging up. I know nobody in those countries, and never returned the calls, after which they declined in frequency for a while, but have started again. A new twist is that they now mimic international calls from Australia (0011+). I suggest if you don’t recognise the number, let the call go to voice mail. It won’t.
Thanks a lot your article is very informative
At 1:15 today, I receive a International call (+256) country code that rang only a few times. I browse in the net to find out, from which country the call was generate – It was from Uganda. A month ago, I have received a few international calls and I remember I pick one call unintentionally that cause absolute frustration but I was unable to determine the reasons behind those calls. Now, I m really lucky that I did not pick the call this time. Thank you for the article, it is very helpful to everyone.
I also got a weird call, it was from the United Kingdom, starting with +44, I picked it up out of curiosity, and it was some weird pre-recorded audio, it was counting in Arabic, so it went like one, two, three, four and so on, but in Arabic obviously.
I’ve also been getting confirmation messages from WhatsApp, which means that they’re trying to use your phone number to make WhatsApp accounts. If you get one of those, do NOT click the confirmation link.
The phone number itself was +441313220551, so for anyone reading this, make sure to watch for ones that start with +44 too, they’re using UK numbers aswell now.
Thanks for your information’s. It’s Very helpful.
Thank you for sharing on missed call. I really appreciate it
Two days ago I started getting multiple calls from the Netherlands, anyone else getting these calls? it is excessive, they have called from over 20 different numbers in a matter of two days. I have no business with anyone in the Netherlands, so I just block them, but it seems that they have hundreds of numbers.
Thanks for info. Very helpful.
Thanks,
But if I didn’t call back so there is no risk, right??
getting non stop calls from +91 72720 288. Been going on for almost a week. they call three or 4 times a day every day. I am glad that I read this and did not answer. I was afraid I might be missing something important. thanks to my robokiller and this article, my mind is at ease now and I will not respond. Thank you so much.
Thank you for the article, Lalit.
Yes Boss you are right the scammers targets prepaid numbers only, i am at Dubai getting frustrated by such phone calls every day in my Etisalat Prepaid Number only.
I have another two postpaid number but i never got miss call on it. your posts is very useful to all innocent peoples.
you are lucky. I’m getting calls on my both postpaid numbers.
Add Kiribati : +68630012243
to your list of dodgy numbers to avoid calling back.
I received a call at 5:48 am from Burundi.
+25722280016 Do add this to your list please. You just wish you could somehow put your hand through the phone and slap them hard them at the other end.
I kept getting missed calls at 6 AM this morning. Fortunately I was at work and didnt answer as my phone was on silent mode. The number came up unknown the first couple of times and then this number showed up on the following calls 002634350547 which came up on my mobile as being a number from Zimbabwe.
I was called this evening, 29 june 2019, in Ireland, from this Burundi number:
00257-72-33-1694
I let it ring for 3 seconds, then rejected the call. The number is now blocked.
This is the only way to deal with scammers in my view. Best of luck everyone :)
I am from Pakistan. I am getting calls from Bahrain and local Pakistani mobile numbers for more than one week. There are more than 10 different numbers.
I had a call from this number 01448806456 I do not know who it is as it is an international telephone number the zero was away from the other numbers no one answers the telephone when I pick up the phone
The same thing happens to me every day today there were 52 calls I’m sick of it
Got one allegedly from Burundi yesterday (+257 68131733). Obviously I don’t know anybody there, so I didn’t call back.
Just to point out, though. If you have VoIP it is trivial to make your caller ID say whatever you want it to. So the call back number might be in Burundi or Tajikistan or Nauru, or wherever the premium price line is located, but the scammer himself could be sitting in Pittsburgh for all we would know. He doesn’t have to be physically in the country where he has made the deal with the local phone company.
since a few days, I’m receiving missed calls from Russia
i.e.
Today on 6-3-2019 at 10.52 am from +79407646825
on 28th Feb,2019 at 6:17 pm from +79407646824
on 26th Feb,2019 at 8:20 am from +79407646899
I’m just afraid of such international miss calls.
I keep getting calls from Brazil, and its starting to KILL ME. I’ve blocked the number, but that just leads to more calls from Russia, Brazil, Chile, and also got a call from Argentina.
I keep getting them from +265 numbers funny thing is I’m pay as you go so they don’t get anything. This still has NOT stopped them from ringing again and again . I get at least one phone call a day . Which i ignote. At least after reading this article I know where they are coming from now .
I received a bill for $284 for my mobile phone and internet for the last month yesterday. On my account was this listing:
03 Mar 10:27am International Direct FYR Maced M 38973298029 01:43:17 164.720 164.720 THIS IS FROM MACEDONIA then alson on 14 Mar 08:58am National to Telstra Mobiles Glebe 0418112018 Peak 01:43:55 104.000* 0.000.. then on 13/3/2019 there were two calls from +389 73298080
I do not know anyone in Macedonia, I think I must have answered it and nobody was there so hung up after 2 seconds. But it is recorded here that the call lasted one hour 43 minutes and 17 seconds. How could that happen as I ended the call! I have also received calls from Burundi +257 76 78 3185 .and France +33 825935 048 twice and +33 825 933 046 and also +213 771289953 twice from Algeria. All numbers have since been blocked.
Hi there !
Recently we have returned from Germany. (11nov 2018)
We had a short three day trip with my wife in Berlin.
Yesterday, around the 2pm my with received the first call on Viber original from Germany (+49152….).
The second call came at 10 pm also from Germany but from other unknown number, after I received one call (+4915228810533).
I checked on internet, there is vodafone numbers registered in Germany.
During the trip we called each other and also used local wifi connection.
I guess that somebody have access to vodafone database and use information to make these calls.
What is important do not call back.
I’ve been getting calls from this number since a few days around midnight. The first time I received the call but didn’t hear the caller speak anything. So I cut the call and again it started ringing. I switched off my phone. The next day, day time I tried calling the number. The call wouldn’t go through -wrong number announcement. Last night when the call came, I took the call. The caller spoke something which I couldn’t understand. It was like a terrorist speaking in a heavy thick voice. I cut the call and switched off my phone. It took over an hour of praying to take away the effect of the call -chilling fear having Jesus cleanse it away with His blood power.
A Tip for anyone who is not yet doing so is to make use of the Blocking on your Smartphone.
* Set up a “Blocked Numbers” contact in your address book.
* Each time you get one of these calls add it to that contact, then go into settings and update the Call Blocking and ID list under Phone -> Calls.
* Otherwise, as I have found, they can keep using the same number to call you.
I have about 20+ so far on my list but getting these calls have begun slowing down.
calls from algeria: oct 2018
00213560517681
3 x others starting 002135605 followed by other digits.
i rang them back…rings twice then someone picks up but its silent so im thinking theyre bots of some sort.
Thanks for the info. I got a call from 257xxxxxx today, did not call back, tried to see from which country it was and came across this article; understood that it is a scam. Escaped this time; will be doubly careful now.
Such articles are very helpful.
I’m just receiving a lot of incoming callings from Netherland:
+31225515085
+31223300761
+31777421208
+315613424203
+31105943579
+312269173575
+31992877309
And one from Greece
+3059001003
Only I could to “answer” one and inmediately the cut the calling XD
got a call today from this burundian number 257 97770331 Didnt pick up and didnt call back Was wondering how did they get my phone number?
+995568256510 I got missed calls from this number twice. Its from Georgia.
I didn’t receive and I didn’t call back.
Thanks for the Artice.
-Sharad
I also received a call from Chile which I did not answer. Att is now charging me $136 for calling this number the next day which I know I did not dial. They are saying the call lasted 33 minutes. I know no one in Chile and did not dial this number. +56 (156) 98558. Furious.
Cell phone, one ring . missed call hit send then found it was not who I was waiting for The # was V 70517595600006. Stated on prerecording that computer repair subscription would take effect in 10 or so min. I hit # 1 to unsubscribe # 2 to subscribe. Not knowing what to do I hit 1. Wonder how much this will cost .
Myself and my wife getting call from Saudi Arabia from Yesterday evening and today i got one call from Jordan also.. i am wondering at same time how they are calling me and my wife at same time , from where they got both the number at a time. number are below which am getting calls.
+962790507448
+966540154308
+966540154117
Some where they hacked my details where i have given my wife number as alternative number.
Thanks. I got 3 calls from below number in last week.
Benin : +229 92294871
Belarus : + 375(44) 3401487
South Africa: +27 879010740
I don’t know anybody living there. So they must be fraud calls.
for last three days I keep getting calls from +257 Burundi) and +248 (Seychelles). it rings once and then disconnects. I doubted its an scam so never picked any calls. Today I googled and luckily got this article. Thanks a lot to make us aware.
I just received a call today (07June 2018)from +7 182-156-513, Iphone said Russia. I didn’t answer as I don’t know anybody in Russia… However they did leave a voice mail and to be honest, after reading all these posts, I am nervous to even check that. LOL It’s funny when i did check it, it was an Asian female, have no idea what she said, but she said it 3 times before hanging up.
Just received two calls from Papua New Guinea – +675 7089 4359 & 4241. I never answer or call back unrecognised numbers.
I received several international missed call yesterday night from 12:10 upto 4:00 am . I tried answering couple of calls i heard a lady greeting me in an unknown language and the call gets disconnected. I tried checking all this numbers in true calller i was able to get there country such uganda, serbia , ukraine details. The calls have been generated from following isd code +381,+882,+380,+256.Please avoid this code and beware of this online scammers…
Just heads up for others, I’ve gotten calls from the following:
Tonga(+676))
Kitchener, Ontario (122621544369)
Burundi (25761405494)
Chad (+235)
and multiple from Seychelles (+248)
I have just received a Burundi missed call +257 and in 3secs my 100 airtime was gone… wish I had seen this post early
Had two calls from Kiribati +686
I didn’t reply, and after reading this I see I did the right thing! Thanks for the heads up
I’ve been blocking each number every time they call, so here are some of the numbers they have used (I had erased the first 20 or so) :
269 8202703 Comoros
269 8202702 Comoros
269 3914431 Comoros (Notice: same number, different country)
269 3914431 Canada (Notice: same number, different country)
2693914431 Canada (Notice: same number, different country)
2699001114 Kalamazoo, MI United States
2699001678 Kalamazoo, MI United States
2699002464 Kalamazoo, MI United States
41742773640 Switzerland
41 74 277 36 20 Switzerland
41 74 277 14 20 Switzerland (Notice: same number, different country)
41742771420 Canada (Notice: same number, different country)
2486427007 Birmingham, MI United States
257 72 33 52 14 Burundi
257 61 70 10 45 Burundi
257 61 70 10 43 Burundi
257 61 70 10 44 Burundi
252 64501321 Somalia
My son got a $61.00 charge for Burundi calls (He returned the calls) So beware!
They have been calling me non stop for 2 days, starting at noon until midnight. But since I block their numbers after each call, they have added countries such as Switzerland and the US (Kalamazoo, MI and Birmingham, MI), Comoros and lots from Burundi
+381 61 1794203 – Got a call from this number another scam.. Cell companies are selling our numbers for profits. Scammers make the world go round i guess.
Hi, Very nice information. I also frequently get calls from +52 (Mexico). I never received due to the sceptical nature
I had 2 calls from Russia and 1 from Indonesia. I didn’t answer either
These are the num: +7 025233993 (Russia)
+62 85211495844 ( indonesia )
anyone had call from this number
i received a call from Tunisia, i am aware of these scams so i ignored it. Scary thing was the call was timed at 17.04, i then received an email at the precise time saying this is your receipt number i had not made any purchases on that day which makes it more worrying. The number is +216 75 829 978. Please make sure that if you receive any form of emails or calls from this number you report or ignore it. Somewhere along the line they managed to obtain my email address.
+442032276801(London) currently same thing happening to me.One ring call scam from london. Anyone had calls from this number?
hello everyone this is still happening (2018). I have had Mali call me approx. 10 times in the last 24 hours, my young child accidently called it back and it was connected for 1 minute 26 secs and it racked up a bill of £2.49. So be aware.
I’ve got that annoyed I have had to block all international calls to my cell phone for a while. I am convinced my number has been sold on my a ‘scam whiplash company’ as I declined to make a personal injury claim, less than 2 weeks ago. I ended up blocking them too and they stalked me from various companies in Scotland, Liverpool, Manchester, etc.
Call received an hour ago – just a couple of rings and that was it. The number was +223 6944 0430 (Mali)… needless to say it’s now on the blocked list!!
I had mali as well, i blocked the first call then another came through on a different number. Haven’t had any others so far.
Awereness
picked up 3 calls from +387 63302666,
+387 63302663 bosnia herzogonovia old USSR country
I was waiting for international calls from friends.
by the date 2018-02-01
Morocco 0212662387065
missed call seems to belong to
Wangiri scam-
Thank you for your article in TechWelkin- really informative.
We’ve all been getting such calls. Well, I would like to know what kind of emotion you felt when you got the call. For me, it was as if a terrorist was speaking. However, it ended after I began to switch my mobile off at sleep time for a few days. One thing that is comforting is that we all can share our eerie experiences at Techwelkin.
HI, I Have been getting 5 to 6 calls a day from Serbia + 381607910007…night & day…I never answer. Can I put a block on this number??? thank you so very much jackie OM
Thanks. I have received at least 3 mystery calls in as many days. These are:
88216901347- country unknown
67913253999- Fiji
25958230721- Tanzania
I know of no one from these countries. Although I’ve not picked up or returned the calls, it’s freaking me out. This is not the first time. The frequency is increasing.
I have received such calls from Uganda, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and few other countries. I usually pick-up the call but nobody speaks from the other side. I have never called any of these numbers back. What can be the impact of answering such calls?
Hi, I’m from Philippines I received a one ring call through my viber it’s from +25789775241 Burundi . I haven’t answered the call and I didn’t call back. So it’s means no charges made right?
No one has complained pakistan number yet. Pakistan has better security system it Biometeric.
Thank you
Sorry if you are being offended by that. But I have received numerous calls from Pakistan on my UK phone number and had to change it after a mistreat started Whatsapping me sending weird messages and pictures of his unmentionables. So yes, it is possible.
I have accidentally answered and then I discovered, hours later, what looked like I did call them back and 10 minutes and 30 $ later…. I have realized Trump was right. Took my hubby over an hour with our cell provider to cancel the payment as I don’t know anyone in the f@#$ing Burundi.
I received a call from +257 a country code of Burundi. Last week also got a call on Friday. Was not aware of this scam so called back and was told by one lady that she got a call from my number on Wednesday night and so she called back from her residence and that also from the same city. Today again I got a call at midnight but this time my phone was on Flight mode so got a message of missed call, after checking in google I came across this page. Thank you to Mr. Lalit Kumar and his team for developing such thing and making aware everyone about the scams. We appreciate their hardwork. After reading about this scam I have deleted the email thing from my phone and installed a True caller application.
Hiya I found this quite useful.
I have a couple more to add though.
They are:
+220 Gambia
+254 Kenya
Cheers fellas ;-)
For the last four days I am continuously receiving miss call from +923052058016 in my mobile in Saudi Arabia as I worked in a govt electrcic company here. I inquired with Mobilink /jazz and found that the sim is registered by some one Hussain Achakzai of waziristan,
As I don’t know this person I am not attending the phone with phone blocker apps, then I started receiving calls perhaps from cards showing different local Saudi numbers each time ( calling every half hour) which I could not block as number changes each time.
Due to these activities I am feeling to much irritated that I could not sleep well.
Mkhursheed
08/11/2017
So prior to leaving this comment I was watching some YouTube on Xbox and I heard my phone vibrating so I picked up my phone thinking it would be my mom or grandma but it said the call was from Egypt. The number is 20878161232. I obviously didn’t answer but right as I was about to look it up I got another call from the same number and I didn’t pick up. So I was wondering if I will get more calls like this now. Can someone please inform what if I will?
P.S. Thanks for the help ;3
I am on Do Not Call list but it does no good! Just received a call on my iPhone from Russia +7 (311) 026-41-3. I let it ring until voice mail answered. No message left. I googled it and came across this article.
I have the same situation. The number shows, underneath says Russia, I picked up but no answer, a hang up. This has happened several times in the past two weeks. The number does not show when I look at the list of recent callers. I do not have time to write down the number.
Could this possibly be a virus for smartphones?
I mean if your smartphone gets an infection and the virus zombify your phone so it calls long-distance numbers without letting you know and if this is done through some intermediate service /like VoIP technology like Skype or by calling a number of service and then through it call to long distance so that service earns money from you per call/ ?
There are even more scary scenarios, that are possible: if they actually want you to receive the call so they can record your voice and use it with a special computer software to generate speech imitating your voice. If they are scammers this can be further used to steal your identity, call your bank on your behalf and sh*t like that. Or it can be some government’s secret services building their database for some dark purposes, like the NSA.
What I do is put those numbers on screened numbers list. Do not receive or call them back, and don’t speak to it no matter what.
I think my case is the worst of them all, since morning, i’ve been receiving series of calls from foreign international number, today only i’ve missed over 40 missed calls (one time ring calls for that matter).
these are their numbers
+37066868323
+48700000282
+37066321393
+882413411246
+882413411245
+37066620244
+37066620244
+37168917494
+375236559253
+37066620245
+48700000366
+2699001410
+88233719035
+37066620231
Am really tired of all this freaks! I wish i could just lay hold on them, they could have known how pissed off am!
This really sucks me, I even have to call my network provider if there’s any thing they could do to stop it, the response I received from them was that I shouldn’t receive calls from unknown foreign number nor return any.
This is the second time i’ve experienced this, the last time they pestered me was early last year. But after then, they stopped, and now they’ve started again. Today is worst of them all. Both night and day.
Those guys are asshole!
I’ve been receiving calls from unknown numbers but my device helps me trace the numbers to the country corresponding code, it’s super annoying cause it almost got me into trouble with my lecturer…the phone rang in class🤦🤦
Mine almost got me into trouble with my lecturer…the phone rang in class🤦
Thanks for sharing the post and warning!
Had been getting these stupid unknown calls which more or less gave me mini heart attacks every single time in inappropriate locations and times since 2013 I think.
It’s no use blocking them since they have like heaps of numbers to use for scamming, but I sure do hope there’s a function to block an entire region code just for the sake of it.
Getting real tired of getting shocked awake at midnights
If you’re an Android phone user, you can easily block calls by country code.
Add Tonga to the list. Just got called twice this morning from 676 848 9462. I don’t give out my cell phone number so they must be using computer to generate random numbers to call.
The Iraqis are getting in on the action.
Got a call from +964 770 450 9874
Hello all,
I am receiving calls from few numbers since last few months.
+85579585254
+6768974745
+85537693859
+85599942129
+56651973109- got a call from this number yesterday at 22:52 pm
So fad up like this.
I got sms from unknown no. +4915555009180 asking me to call back. Earlier I called back a similar no. only to listen sex and foreplay related talks as dial tone. Beware
Today I got a call from this number 249100953235. It’s from Sudan. I didn’t call back. But when I Google it I got your article.
add Russian Federation to the list – number with held. Even more bizarre is my phone has no register of the number either received or missed. Yet my telcom provider bill shows one day last month I was on the phone for 34mins to the Russian federation when they ‘called me’……twilight zone eh?
I got a call from Netherlands 31622215941 two rings and hung up. I had a dream actually that I was expecting a long distance call and once I woke up Netherlands was calling. Freaked me out, Notice the 222? Woke up at 5:55 then all day I kept seeing triple digits all day..(spiritual awakening maybe?) haha So Off topic… but I see someone else mentioned the Netherlands .
I got a call from Algeria. 213 could be added to the list
Hello everyone!I also got missed call from these numbers
+685
+509
+442
+216
+120
many many thanks for the sweet information.
got a call from +248 which is Seychelles
Thanks for this article, I was starting to feel stalked. I have only recently started getting calls from international numbers, you can add Netherlands, I think, I don’t know anyone from the 0031 code but now have blocked them. I was tempted to answer as it almost looks local. The first number was 00311234567 (which looks suspicious). But accidently while trying to get the info pressed dial, but my phone won’t allow that number to be called. Hope all will be ok.
First it was marketing calls I had to stop and now this….really! I am so tired
You may want to add Egypt to the list. +20
Got call from Serbia 3 times and from Chad 2 times… Add these countries also in the list.
i got 2 calls from 2 different numbers
21654755445 (Tunisia at 6.30 a.m)
994500607515 (Azerbaijan at 1.37 a.m)
I was scared for the first time because it was an international one ring call and there is no reason for me to get an international call. Then I started to research about this and finally found this page. Now i am relaxed after knowing the details.
I am reading this page because I have received 98 calls (not joking, I’m serious) for the past 2 days and I’m frothing mad. But now I know, I’m not alone in this. The calls were from Moscow, Russia. I hate these sick people. Thankfully, I did not get carried away and call back to check on who was calling me from an international number. I’ve traveled widely and not excited about international calls.
Thank you for your informative article, I found it whilst googling about why I had received a call from Uganda. I can stop worrying now.
Kym ?
I received 2 calls today from this number: +19779852052328. Calls came about 20 minutes apart. It only said from Nepal on my caller ID. I did not answer either. Had no intention of calling back, but while researching the number I found this site. Your article was an interesting read. I figured it was a wrong number or a scam. I just did not know what the scam was. Thank you.
2 – 3 Feb 2017 Just receiving a series of phonecalls from a Suriname number, either as one ring and hung up, or hung up as soon as I pick up, or with someone asking to “Please call me back, sir, please call me back” . I think I’ve had about 30 phonecalls in the last two days, they are persistent….
it happened also to me, i received a call from +77777…..this afternoon. Thanks for sharing info. Now i know that its a scam.
I got a call today from 982133971022 , on checking google and also truecaller the number indicated that its from Iran-Tehran province.I am scared why my number got a call from Iran :(
However , I havent reverted and wont do it either.
Thanks for sharing this article.
I got a missed call from+25761498073 for 3 seconds but fortunately I didn’t reply hoping it as a fake call. When I googled it, I found that the call was from Burundi. Please you too be careful from this number mentioned above.
I just received a call from this number and like an idiot I picked up the call and said hello, hello a couple of times and then cut the call, doesn’t look like any money got deducted, hopefully I haven’t lost. Thank you for the information you have shared. I was worried and after reading the information you provided I am relieved.
i got a call today morning from +963917905992. I unknowingly picked the phone but no answer from the other side. It was a new experience and a lesson to me too.Here onwards no unknown number calls will be entertained.. Thanks for the information
I am getting miss call from this fraud number +2160713900 ; DO NOT ACCEPT THIS NUMBER CALL IF ANYONE ELSE ALSO GET FROM THIS . USUALLY CALL HAPPENS IN NIGHT HOURS i noticed , now this number gave me over 2 time misscall in last month . I am now thinking to report a police complain about this .
I am receiving calls from Canada and Colombia too. I know no one there and it’s one ring only.
I don’t understand risk of answering such call. Of course I won’t call back.
This article is very informative. Thank you so much. :)
it very bad and no one should do this never pick a call from unknown numbers also complain if you get
stop this do not waste your time in this senders
better study something and do something for the country
This has happened to me twice. The first time was a Russian caller about a month ago. I naively called back multiple times (considering that I have friends in Russia, I thought they might be calling me using another phone) and the second time was about 5 minutes ago, it was from Greece. They called me, I called back, they did not answer my call, then they called me again. A woman’s voice could be heard saying “Hello, hello, can you hear me? Can you understand me? Hello?” I quickly hung up because I thought it could be more sinister than it was. I have many relatives in Greece and family members who are Greek and this woman did not have a Greek accent whatsoever. Why is my number being called more than once? Is there a possibility that it could be saved in a phone scam database or something? Thanks!
M.W., It’s good that you quickly hung up. I’ve read that some of these international scammers ask “Can you hear me?” and when you answer “Yes” your answer is recorded and spliced into another recording to make it sound like you are saying “yes” to some financial charges.
I was also called from a couple of international number, Tunisia, Santa Monica USA, Montenegro , Maldives and even from South Africa. Luckily I did not answered most of them as the same method was used 1 or 2 rings then they hang up as they want you to call them back. I only called back the Santa Monica number as I’ve got family in the USA but did not lost a lot as I immediately realized that it was a scam, however it could have been different. I installed truecaller and blocked them all. It seems that they share your number on a database. I am from South Africa and these scamsters are all over the world trying to scam you.
yes i got two miss call of same number +68630011125 from kiribati a iceland nation. I have no idea to what to do but this above article make me happy. thanks
I accidentally answer unknown call when i was playing game, and it just off immediately. But i didn’t call back.
Very helpful. This morning I recieved a series of calls every minute from Benin 229 68216156 to be exact, and i wouldnt pick up. then after like the 10th call i answered really fast before it hung up and the dude was sooo confused. he was speaking french and maybe he was surprised i spoke french too. he didnt see that one coming. I told him in french to shut the &?% up and stop calling me. I kinda knew calling back wasnt a good idea, but since he called me, maybe he will have fees to pay, héhé. it’s been 1 hour and nobody called. i must admin i’m kinda waiting for it tho lol. thanks again.
thank you so much for your important information, from last three days i got missed call from united kingdom and tazakistan….so i google today and find your article which is very helpful for me.
I got a call today from Algeria and Lithvania +213551665621 and +37253216221 on Viber
This morning, I received a miscall or call (I was sleeping) from SENEGAL. I was searching about Senegal code and I came to this article. But thanks. It’s superb!
I am receiving calls from Saudi Arabia arguing me that I am giving miscalls. There are hundreds of numbers from where I am receiving complaining calls. I have informed local police, federal investigation. I am so much irritated that I have switched off my mobile phone. Can there be any solution for that?
your phone might a zombie bot. you could reinitialize it like it was new (dont forget to backup), like you’d do with a computer that has a virus. or change your phone number.
I received a phone call and missed it. I returned the phone call without thinking much about who I was calling. The number was +56 3357-1892. Calling back was a mistake. One should not call back to an unknown number. When I called, I received a voice message from my provider, Verizon, that my plan did not cover international calls. I hung-up quickly, hoping I would not be charged. It turned out this phone call was from the Country of Chile. Over the next 2 hours my iPhone indicated that 4 more calls were made to this number from my phone and I know that I did not make them. I called Verizon to ask them to help, either block this call or all international calls. They informed me that there was nothing they could do. Verizon did advise me to use my iPhone and block this number, and so I did. I will be checking back with Verizon to see how much I will be charged for these international calls. I am not sure what scam was taking place.
I’ve been getting calls from Switzerland, best I can figure from google searches. Three times yesterday, 4 in a row today, and no messages. I never pick up calls I don’t recognize, and usually don’t worry if they don’t leave a message, but this one just wont stop!
Today I received fake call from Switzerland +41799780210. And asking to call back. Seems audio clip, female voice was there & was describing her figure.
I also shown this my colleagues.
These number should be banned by Telecom companies. Should have taken action on them.
got calls 3 times from russia. two of them came today by the same number and the wierdest thing was it came through viber. the fist one was staight to my phone.
Thanks for this information. Me too got a call recently from a Russian Number. When answered, a recording of some numbers heard. So, i cut the call.
GOT CALL THIS MORNING AND IT SAID BURUNDI AND A LONG NUMBER. I DIDN’T ANSWER
I had a call from Russia today and hit answer by mistake but hung up straight away. Do you think this would have cost money?
Hi Philip, your mobile service provider would be able to give you the answer.
Thank you! I had 2 calls from Russia and 1 from South Africa yesterday. I didn’t answer either. Thanks for the warning. Appreciated!
Okay, a little scary. I just got a call. The number on my iphone was identified as coming from Brazil (+55) and I answered it (because my brother in law has just gone to Brazil). The person was asking who I was and when I asked who they wanted to speak to they asked for some person and wouldn’t believe me when I kept saying wrong number and no such person is here. Then the person was like “but my friend gave me this number” I finally disconnected.
How long ago was this? I have been getting calls from Brazil for the last 2 months. From a unknown number. I wonder if it is the same number.
I got a call today from Russia 7 (8678) 6. It was two one ring calls. I called back but it did not go through. But they called me back and I answered it. They said I was granted some grant money from the US government. I said not interested and hung up.
Thanks for this important information!
I just missed a call from BURUNDI this morning. Great to have this info as a warning.
Just happened to me. Saw a call from a weird number. Iphone said it was Russia. I Googled it and came across articles such as this one. This one I wouldn’t have returned anyway as it international. However, as is likely with some, if I knew people in Russia or another foreign country then I may have tried calling the number.
NICE AWARENESS :)
Going through this article has really opened my eyes. For sometimes now, I have been experiencing this sickening trend of these scammers. Please my advice is that we share this article and spread it to others using the available social media handles…. Thanks.