People receiving calls from Saudi Arabia; "One - ring" scam in Barak Valley; "Do not call back," warns Police

Residents of Barak Valley are getting missed calls from unknown numbers starting with +966. Though the ISD code suggests that the call is coming from countries in Saudi Arabia, it is actually a scam.

Scamsters sitting in India, book premium ISD numbers, and from those numbers call randomly. They disconnect the call after one ring. When the recipient, call back, they get charged as per the ISD call rates despite making a local call. The money that gets deducted from the caller is what the scamsters earn. “One Ring” scam has already hit many regions and Barak Valley seems to be the latest zone under the attack of the scamsters.

“A significant number of residents from Barak Valley migrate to the Middle East for employment opportunities. Now, if their family members receive a missed call from +966 which is the code for Saudi Arabian countries, they are more likely to call back and burn their balance,” said a Cybercrime analyst.

People in Silchar and other parts of Barak Valley have been receiving calls from +966577579554, +966576379746, +966577526262 and many other such numbers. Few residents have even brought it to the Police’s notice.

A senior officer in Cachar Police said, “It is better to ignore such calls and if possible, the numbers must be blocked immediately. Calling back or receiving such scam calls will be asking for trouble. The scamsters can get access to a lot of important data and at times can even go ahead and clone the number.”

Similar ‘One Ring’ scam broke in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this year. Kashmir Times quoted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Cyber Police Cell Kashmir, Tahir Ashraf saying “One ring phone scam stepped into Kashmir.” Ashraf added, “We have issued an advisory for the people on how to deal with the scam. Your phone rings once and then stops. If this happens to you and you don’t recognize the number, do not return the call. You may be the target of a one-ring phone scam.”

“Since international calls are costly, the scammers engage people and earn money. By engaging people for long durations over the phone, they can access bank accounts and steal the money as well as phone numbers are linked with the banks of the people across Kashmir,” warned Ashraf in Kashmir.