Forwarding Your Phone Access Scam: How It Works

There is a very dangerous scam that started over the weekend, hitting up area codes of some major US and Australian cities. It involves your phone service provider. This fraudulent phone call convinces you to give criminals access to your device without realizing it. How does it work?

Imagine this scenario: You receive a call from somebody claiming to be a technician with your phone line provider. He says the telecommunications company is running a test for a specific reason and requires you to cooperate for a minute or so. “We're launching a new feature meant to save you money on your future bills,” he might say.

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The victims do not question the integrity of the call because the scammers use a trick named Caller ID spoofing, which shows the name of whoever they want on the call display – in this case, the phone company. This way, when the phone rings, many people see the name of their trusted network and feel it is a legitimate call.

Watch the video below to see what the Caller ID Spoofing is, along with tips on what to do if it's too late:

 

But let's go back to the scam. After the ‘technician' presents the situation and your future benefits for cooperating on this, you accept – since it's in your interest. After a couple of fake verification questions, the caller asks you to press a couple of keys on your phone's keypad. (e.g.,. “9”, “0” and then “#”).

Depending on the state or country you are living in, the keys combination is forwarding your phone number to the scammers' phone number. After you press the keys giving them access, they will be able to call any long-distance number on your account.

Forwarding Your Phone Access Scam: How To Avoid

Never do such a thing for somebody you don't know and just make sure you are familiar with the prefixes used by your telephone provider. The phone service providers don't do such random tests.

 

Forwarding Your Phone Access Scam: How To Report

Make your family and friends aware of this scam by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using the link below:

Report To The FTC Here

 

How to protect yourself more:

If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodical emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.

 

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