How to determine whether a strange phone call you receive is a scam call

Several methods commonly used in telecommunications fraud:

1. "Telephone arrears" fraud

The suspects send mass messages or make direct calls in the name of the telecommunications department After the victim denied this, the criminal suspect asked the victim to call the police, then pretended to be a government department such as the Public Security Bureau, Procuratorate, and the Law, and asked the victim to transfer the deposits in the account on the pretext that the bank account was suspected of fraud or money laundering. Go to a so-called "safe account" to commit fraud.

2. Bank card consumption and bank transfer SMS fraud

Criminals will send the victim a text message with contents such as bank card consumption, transfer or overdraft. When the victim calls for consultation, Several criminals pretended to be "bank staff", "police" and "UnionPay Management Center" and set up traps layer by layer. As long as they were sure that there were funds on the victim's card, they would advise the victim to transfer the money to a "safe account" , defrauding the victim of his money.

3. "Guess who I am" scam

The criminal suspect calls the victim's phone number and uses the "guess who I am" method to make the victim mistakenly think that he is a relative or friend. The unknown number was stored in the address book of the mobile phone. After defrauding the victim's trust, the criminal suspect called again and used the excuses of a car accident and prostitution to defraud the victim of money.

4. Tax refund fraud

Criminals pretended to be staff from taxation, finance, and vehicle management offices and called the victim’s phone number, saying that “the state has lowered the deed tax and car surcharge rates and wants to refund the tax.” Let the victim provide his bank card number and transfer the tax directly through the ATM machine. When the victim went to the ATM, the criminal claimed that the tax refund system only supported the English interface, and asked the victim to follow his instructions on the phone, and then took the opportunity to transfer the victim's money.

5. Fictional kidnapping scam

The victim’s communication tool will receive a strange phone call, saying that the victim’s relatives (mostly children) have been kidnapped and that a criminal is at the side. Someone pretended to be a relative of the victim and shouted for help, demanding a quick ransom payment. The other party will provide an account, and will not allow the victim to hang up the phone or verify the situation, and will require immediate payment, otherwise the kidnapped person will be harmed. If the victim believed it and transferred the money to the account, he would have been deceived.

Extended information:

Secret tips for preventing fraud when receiving unknown calls or text messages

1. Don’t click on links in text messages

Although mobile phone text messages also contain safe links sent by banks and other institutions, many users have difficulty identifying the authenticity through the other party’s text message number, text message content, link form, etc. Therefore, users should try not to click on any links in text messages, especially Android Mobile phone users must beware of Trojan viruses.

2. Don’t give the “verification code” to anyone

The “SMS verification code” sent by banks, Alipay, etc. is extremely confidential and private information, and is usually automatically verified after a few minutes. Expired, so do not disclose this information to anyone or any institution.

3. If the phone does not display the number, do not answer the call

Currently, except for a very few special departments that have “no number display” phones, any government, enterprise, bank, or operator There are no "no number display" telephone numbers in other organizations, so if you see an incoming call with "no number display", you must answer it with caution.

4. Never talk about card numbers and passwords

Never mention bank card numbers, passwords, ID numbers, or medical insurance card numbers in phone calls, text messages, QQ chats, or WeChat conversations. and other information to avoid being used by fraudsters.

Reference material: Xinhuanet - 3.15 teaches you how to detect common fraud methods