pavan0641

Bharti Airtel has issued an advisory to its mobile and landline users on fraudulent calls purportedly being made on behalf of the company.

According to the company, the fraudster sends an SMS or a missed call to the user (from an international number with country code +92), and on returning the call he informs the user of having won an operator-sponsored lottery.

The fraudster then attempts to con the customer into divulging personal information and pay a “commission” to get the lottery. Airtel has asked its users to refrain from responding to missed calls from unknown numbers, especially those beginning with +92.

It has also asked users to refrain from sharing any personal information like identity proofs handset IMEI or SIM card numbers.

In November, Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), the GSM service providers’ body, had warned subscribers of fraudulent calls purporting to be from mobile service providers. The calls are believed to be originating from Pakistan and Dubai numbers, according to COAI.

Full text of the advisory:-

Airtel has learnt that customers are arbitrarily being targeted by callers who pretend to be calling on behalf of the customer’s telecom operator and inform the recipient that he/she has won a lottery/award conducted by the respective telecom operator.

In such instances, the customer receives a missed call from a number starting with +92. Upon returning the missed call (with the indicated country code) the unsuspecting customer reaches a fraudster pretending to be representative of Airtel or another mobile operator and informs the customer of having won an operator-sponsored lottery.

The fraudster then attempts to con the customer into divulging sensitive personal information and to pay a “commission” to receive the winnings. Such commission is usually asked to be paid via DTH recharge vouchers.Bharti Airtel would like to warn its customers that these are calls from fraudsters with malicious intent and they do not represent the company.

Accordingly, Airtel would like to issue a general advisory to all mobile/landline users to protect them from such malicious activities. These include:

•Avoid responding to suspicious missed calls from unknown numbers, especially those beginning with +92.

•Do not respond to any SMS from unknown sources prompting to call on a number.

•Refrain from sharing any personal information & identity proofs like Voter ID Number, PAN Number, Bank Account Number, Credit Card information or make any payment to people promising lottery or other unexpected awards.

•Do not disclose your handset IMEI or SIM card number to unknown callers. IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is a unique code given by handset manufacturer for your number. This can be obtained by pressing *#06#.

•In case of suspicious calls, report the same to the concerned security authorities / service provider.

For further information and details, Airtel customers are requested to visit our website at: http://www.airtel.in/fraudAlert/fraudalert.html

coolguy010

Even other telcos should do this !

sujin

Airtel customers are worst affected by this scam. That's the reason they have given out a warning

coolguy010

Still others shud also inform. Bcoz many ppl fall for such tricks when they here big sums of money as prize.

mkmobile

i had received miss call from +92 on my voda. I didn't return the call because it is pakistan no.

goldygold

This warning must be given earlier. But not bad...
+92 is a pakistan no. So pakistani'es doing such fraudulents?!

sujin

Ya most of this scams are said to be numbers starting with +92...Ppl having free msgs create awareness

RDBMAC

Got a SMS on my MTS no.

"YOUR PHONE HAS WON GBP 7,50,000.00 IN 2010 TEXACO MOBILE DRAWN IN UK. TO CLAIM SEND DETAILS TO EMAIL: texacomobile1@live.com ''

Time : 10.1.2010, 20:51

sender : TM-CRVM (shown ' }]s } ' in MTS ZTE handset)

then it is sure that TM means Tata Indicom Mumbai !!

and i knw its spam, scam or somthing like that !

sujin

lol these UK based prize msgs were very popular in e-mail last year. Now the same scam through SMS huh...y dont they invent something new to fool with ppl

sujin

Got a scam msg in my mom's no yesterday. It is as follows

BA-brandX
WINNER! 9444xxxxxx(my mom's no) is choosen for $2500
CASH prize, call +43820893621 now

Can anybody say what BA means?

RDBMAC

bsnl andra pradesh !

Gabu

The isd code is of Austria. Must be a voip line terminating in Nigeria

sujin

Damn! Where do they get our numbers? Also when I checked the message centre no it showed a BSNL msg centre no and not a foreign one.

RDBMAC

BA - means bsnl andrapradesh

gabu said abt the no attached wth the sms ..+xyzabc !

goldygold

They select the Nos. in random manner.