New phone scam from Slovenian number

Baneblade

087 number but on emobile. thouht something was up cause i had a missed call but did not hear the phone ringing. cant see there is much comreg or the mobile operators can do short of blocking all international calls from a perticular country, and even then there is no guarentee that was where the call came from it could just be the displayed number

jimmynokia

Im a meteor customer got two of these calls

homerjay2005

jimmynokia wrote: »

Im a meteor customer got two of these calls

were you a vodafone customer before?

Solair

Seems it's a new "international premium rate number".

It's the first time that I've heard of an ability to call a premium rate number within another country's network.

According to Tesco Mobile's website : http://www.tescomobile.ie/international-premium-rates.aspx

They seem to charge at 25¢ per min.

So, not hugely expensive if you do call back, but I would suspect these guys are hoping that lots and lots of people call the number so they make about 10-20 cent per call.

On the plus side, they're within the EU and something can be done about it quite quickly.
ComReg can get onto their counterparts in Slovenia and it'll get blocked / cops will be knocking on someone's door.

Seems like yet another route for charging people premium rates though. The 15XX numbers, and 5XXXX sms codes were bad enough!

jimmynokia

homerjay2005 wrote: »

were you a vodafone customer before?

Was never with with voda.

dahamsta

Missed call from this number at 1140, eMobile now, former Vodafone customer on 087 number.

highly1111

Hubby got one at 9.30 this morning. He's Vodafone but don't think it makes any odds - usually they're just automated numbers - not network specific.

highly1111

Hubby got one at 9.30 this morning. He's Vodafone but don't think it makes any odds - usually they're just automated numbers - not network specific.

triple-M

got one in last 15 minutes on 087 number although its on meteor network

Solair

If you've an Android phone, or another phone that can do automatic rejection of numbers starting with +3868, I'd suggest you do that.

It's not costing them anything to call and hang up, resulting in missed calls. However, if you've a reject option setup, it's likely they'll be diverted to voicemail (incurring a significant charge).

The more of us include that number in our reject list, the most it will cost these scammers as their calls will be instantly answered by voicemail

+386 = Slovenia
8 = "commercial numbers"

So, by blocking +3868 you will only be ditching calls from

AFAIK that will block all calls from there.

Also block the full number too. Seems it works only the most reliably!

To access call blocker :

Go to your Contacts / People App in your phone's app folder.

Click the menu button
scroll down to Blocked Callers and click the + button / add button to add the numbers.

a_noodle_jenny

Same scam is being discussed on the Journal.ie
+386 8 189 7048 was the number I got the missed call from... Spread the word...

wextipp

The cost of the call just appeared on my usage. For a 27 sec call it cost 7c and it was a roaming call. It doesn't cost that much and was more of a nuisance than anything else. I would have thought Vodafone could have given me that information when I rang them on the day. They hadn't a clue what type of call it was and how much it cost.

Bizzi Lizzy

I had a missed call on Saturday from 0035381897048. I didn't phone it back because I didn't recognise the number, it's not even a mobile number. I'm with Vodafone 087

Solair

I just wish genuine businesses would stop setting their Caller ID to stupid numbers.

I got a call from a major mobile company that displayed as +00

Also, I don't generally answer blocked numbers, yet loads of companies seem to send no called ID at all.

dahamsta

Solair wrote: »

I just wish genuine businesses would stop setting their Caller ID to stupid numbers.

I got a call from a major mobile company that displayed as +00

Also, I don't generally answer blocked numbers, yet loads of companies seem to send no called ID at all.

Credit card security departments that do this do my head in. It's like they don't understand their own purpose.

Graham_Keogh

+38681897034 to 087 (Vodafone) late Sat night

metalmonk

Has anyone got confirmation that ringing any of these numbers costs significantly more that it would cost to ring a Slovenian number from your mobile ?

After doing a little digging it may be a wangiri scam but it could be something else entirely.

According to numberingplans.com the number ranges used in the calls below belong to Debitel Slovenia VOIP numbers (386 81 8XX XXX)and do not appear to be premium rate numbers.
386 81 897 022
386 81 897 048
386 81 897 014
386 81 897 057

The PRS range in Slovenia is 090 which would be
386 90 XXX XXX.

Voipgate.com puts the costs to Debitel voip numbers as between €0.018 - €0.026. So for most people they would be an international call, and would certainly cost more from a mobile (your mileage will vary depending on your plan) but not necessarily a premium one costing several euros per minute.

I tried ringing them from Skype (as it gives you the cost per minute) but they all go through to a recorded message in Slovenian which sounds like an invalid number message so I didn't get charged. This may be an artifact of Skype and ringing them from a fixed or mobile number might get a different result.

I wonder if there is something else at work here? Any suggestions ?

MM

Solair

Perhaps make a complaint directly to the Slovenian Regulator, their version of ComReg is called APEK

http://www.apek.si/apek-ang

(They have a website in English too!)

Post and Electronic Communications Agency of the Republic of Slovenia
Stegne 7, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
T: 01 583 63 00
F: 01 511 11 01
E: info.box (At) apek.si

Fighting Irish

wextipp wrote: »

I just seen a missed call on my phone from number +38681897022. It kinda looked like an O2 number so I rang it back. It answered straight away and I could hear what sounded like a couple making love. I presumed it was a scam and checked out the number the +386 is the international code for Slovenia. I tried to text the number from my Blueface account and it said Slovenia Alternative Networks not supported. Next I rang Vodaphone to check how much the call cost me. They said they couldn't tell me but he said he had got lots of similar queries about this from other people. Anybody got any ideas on what this is about. Vodafone are useless I have to say.


http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/38681897022

You're calling vodafone useless? :rolleyes:

lfeehan

metalmonk wrote: »

Has anyone got confirmation that ringing any of these numbers costs significantly more that it would cost to ring a Slovenian number from your mobile ?

I rang it back while half asleep, thinking it was 086 and might be urgent (the wife was out).
Its showing up as having cost me 7 cent (on vodafone online). Maybe vodafone adds on premium charges some other way at the end of the month, I dunno.

Mr. G

Solair wrote: »

I just wish genuine businesses would stop setting their Caller ID to stupid numbers.

I got a call from a major mobile company that displayed as +00

Also, I don't generally answer blocked numbers, yet loads of companies seem to send no called ID at all.

I second this. I got a call from a telecoms provider with a caller ID of +000000. Either show it right or don't show it at all.

Doodlebug

It was mentioned on Ray D'Arcy this morning, and is on the Irish Times site today about a "missed call" scam - semmingly for 087 numbers (regardless of your actual network).

Details here.

I got the "missed call", but never got around to ringing back (luckily!).

However, I know a couple of people who did.

Has anyone here had to reclaim scam-related phone charges before?

Who is liable if a chargeable call was made? Is it just your own tough luck, or is the network operator liable?

Kristopherus

There's already 2 threads about this scam;)

Doodlebug

Kristopherus wrote: »

There's already 2 threads about this scam;)

Thanks - I had a look over the last 7 days posts (I though it only happened in the last couple of days?) and I didn't spot 'em.

Do you have a link?

dudara

Moved to the Nets & Comms forum so that it can be merged with the thread there

dudara

wextipp

metalmonk wrote: »

Has anyone got confirmation that ringing any of these numbers costs significantly more that it would cost to ring a Slovenian number from your mobile ?

I checked and my 27 second call only cost 7c. Not a premium rate by any stretch.There could be something else behind it. Are they building up a database of valid mobile numbers. Although if enough people reply then all the cents can add up.

Spear

Threads merged. There seems to be fair number of these calls happening, with a thread in AH already. Must be the replacement for the Indian tech support scam.

wextipp

Seems Comreg have blocked the number.

http://www.businessworld.ie/bworld/livenews.htm?a=3028332

shorthairguy

I am 087 received a missed call from +38681897015 on 26/1/13 at 09.27. I also checked code was from Slovenia.

jimmynokia

IRELAND’S TELECOMMUNICATIONS regulator has said it does not foresee that any Irish mobile phone user who was targeted by a Slovenian telephone scam will be left out of pocket.
A spokesman for ComReg said the regulator was working with Ireland’s four mobile phone operators to ensure that anybody who returned a missed call from a Slovenian number – which may have been mistaken for an Irish one – was not charged for doing so.
“We don’t foresee anybody being left out of pocket because of this,” the spokesman said.
The regulator has also worked with the networks to block any outbound calls to the offending numbers, so that no other customers could fall victim to the sting.

From the journal.