CURRENT FRAUD ALERT November 11, 2024 at 4:35 p.m
Is a number with the area code +44 constantly calling you? Then scammers from Great Britain are targeting you. This is what needs to be done now.
Spam calls from England are currently not uncommon. (Source: AndreyPopov /depositphotos.com)
A variety of scams make our lives difficult almost every day. It is always important to be on the lookout for phishing emails, the grandchild trick and spam calls. The latter can be particularly annoying.
In such a case, for many people a number with the area code +44 appears and simply leaves no peace. Unsurprisingly, there are fraudsters with sinister intentions behind the telephone terror. They want to get your data and, in the worst case, even misuse it for identity theft.
New stitch from England
The area code on the numbers indicates that they are from the UK. If you answer the call, you’ll hear a recorded message: “Hello, I’d like to talk to you about work. Add me on WhatsApp.” Then it hangs up again. With this approach, the criminals could pursue two goals.
One possibility is that they want to trick you with the task scam on WhatsApp. With this scam, you will be offered a lucrative job offer on Messenger. You can supposedly earn a lot of money per day for simple tasks. You will supposedly receive your wages as cryptocurrency. Ultimately, however, the money never reaches you and you have done work for free.
It can even happen that the fraudsters demand money from you under a pretext that you will supposedly get back as part of your salary. Of course, criminals are also interested in your data.
Another possibility is that it is a ping call. The callers assume that you are calling back out of curiosity. If you do that, however, you will incur high costs. This is because Great Britain is no longer part of the EU since Brexit. The person on the other end of the line ends up trying to drive up the cost by dragging out the conversation and discouraging you from hanging up.
This is how you protect yourself
The numbers +447376141845, +447383072535 and +447307398680 are from Portal tellows classified as extremely dangerous. If one of the numbers appears on your display, you should definitely not answer it. Similar calls are also coming from the Netherlands.
In general, as soon as you hear an automatic announcement on the phone, you can hang up straight away. No reputable company would call you with a recorded message. Comparisons over the phone are also a direct indication of attempted fraud. No matter whether it’s about the electricity provider, the bank or something similar.
By the way, you shouldn’t answer such calls. Even a simple “yes” from you can have devastating consequences. The callers could secretly record the conversation and use your words against you. With a “yes” they could, for example, foist the confirmation of a contract on you. The best way to protect yourself is to hang up.
If you also want to protect yourself from spam calls, you can activate the “Smart Call” function on Samsung cell phones. It is also possible to block unknown numbers on the iPhone.
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Alternatively, you can use the tellows app on your cell phone. It automatically warns and blocks unwanted calls. With tellows call protection for the FRITZ!Box you can also protect yourself from spam calls on the landline.
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