Mobile users beware, don't fall for 'lottery win' trap

Users being duped into transferring 'commission' to fraudsters who give missed call from numbers starting with +92

The next time you get a missed call from a cell phone number starting with +92, watch out. Chances are that it may be part of a fraud to make you divulge your personal details or even part with money.

Service providers say it would be best to ignore the call and report the number to security authorities or them if the calls are repeated.

Lured by lottery talk

The association of Unified Service Providers of India (USPI) has warned that fraudsters are targeting their cell phone subscribers for malicious activity by giving missed calls. It says that the fraudsters pretend to call on behalf of the customers' telecom operator to inform them that they have won a lottery or a reward sponsored by the service provider. This has also resulted in a substantial increase in phone bills for people who divulge their handset's International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.

"Customers generally receive a missed call from a number starting with +92. Once they call back, the customer gets connected to a fraudster who poses as a telecom service provider's representative. The fraudster then tells the caller that he has won an operator-sponsored lottery," said an Airtel spokesperson, explaining the modus operandi.u00a0 Once an unsuspecting caller tries to know more about this, he is asked to reveal sensitive personal information and pay a certain commission amount in order to receive the winnings.

The commission is usually asked for via DTH recharge vouchers.

"This could be just the beginning and the problem could be huge for India, which is the second largest telecom market based on subscriber base. Besides, it's also a caution signal for the 2 million subscribers using Internet on handsets," said Akhilesh Shukla of the Voice and Data magazine.

Easy prey

Shukla added that a large part of subscriber base is still uneducated and is thus an easy target for such fraudsters. UPSI has also asked the subscriber to check the mobile bill regularly for any anomaly, especially outgoing international calls.

Airtel has issued an advisory on the fraud and an official disclosed that it was the first time such an advisory was issued externally. "Internally, we keep informing our subscribers about such fraudulent activities, but this time an external advisory was a must keeping in view the expansion of telecom services in rural areas. Rural subscribers are easy targets for frauds," he said.