Beware of fake phone calls!

[yagit]

---

I have been receiving calls from a Manila landline number (02) 9441130 but nobody answers. I was too lazy to return any of those phone calls (which turned out to be a good thing!). I got suspicious though and I googled the number and found this article from a blog. http://accountingtopbestschool.blogspot.com/


Nifty But Unscrupulous
Bas Navarro

The marketing strategy, that is. This one you can admire and describe as clever, yet it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Your cellphone rings, you find a perfectly valid number registering, you answer, it cuts off. Naturally, you call back --- there may only be a small percentage of the population who wouldn't --- because you are curious and want to find out if it was a legitimate call. Then, a recorded female voice tells you, business-like: "Thank you for returning our call. As you are important to us, please hold for the next available operator." It keeps on repeating that. I know nobody really answers because I have fallen victim to it these past few days.

At first, I thought I was on some kind of surveillance. There are obviously high technology gadgets out there, some contraption used to monitor and watch over the movement of a person by tracking cellphone signal. By answering the call, one submits to the ploy by having "opened-up" the current location through Global Positioning System (GPS). It sounds interesting, but frankly, it is absolutely out of my league to be the subject of any surveillance! Albeit, I do welcome it; how cinematic and fabulous of me to have been the object of someone's high-tech efforts! However, common sense, as always, prevails. Who would want to do that and for what?

Now comes my cellphone bill. It turns out that I actually pay for the calls everytime the fake operator answers. Technically, you do get charged for it since the calls have been received, not merely missed. The few seconds could potentially generate millions for the service provider. Imagine, thousands of people could be fooled into answering the fake calls, everyday. I hate to think that this is a gimmick by my cellphone's network. Yet, I could not discount that possibility. You only have to think who's going to benefit and scratch your head realizing the wily tactic.

And, just to completely vanquish my wishful thinking that I have somehow been embroiled in a far-fetched spy game, I googled the text of the recorded voice. It got more than a million hits. Apparently, it is not uncommon; not specific at all.

Here are some tips. The calls only last for two ringing cycles. So it may be wise to wait for a third ring just to make sure that a call is not what I am talking about. Although they could vary, here are the numbers registering on my cellphone identified with the fake calls: (02) 9441130, (02) 9441100, (02) 6677400, (02) 6677700. Notice that the (02) is the legitimate area code for Metro Manila; it could therefore change depending on your area. The number combinations, methinks, are also consistent with business numbers especially of large corporations and call centers.

Beware!

[b|tcH_g0dd3sS]

yes, i believe it was good thing you googled the number. this definitely is something. I might have received some of these calls as the numbers look very familiar. thank you yagit.


on a side note: the internet is really powerful, we can just Google anything and ANYONE. perhaps i should start Googling someone.

[WinFlo]

thanks for the warning.

kinsa jud kaha pasimuno ani no? and unsa kaha ila purpose?

[yankee1264]

right! tinood na yagit biktima pud ko ana nga mga calls... thanks

[john_yo]

bahala pud oi, dli pud ko mo call back oi, dli man gani ko mo tobag og wal naka register sa ako contacts, not unless mo txt una who he or she is. not unless i know the #. hehehe

[yagit]

yes, i believe it was good thing you googled the number. this definitely is something. I might have received some of these calls as the numbers look very familiar. thank you yagit.


on a side note: the internet is really powerful, we can just Google anything and ANYONE. perhaps i should start Googling someone.

yup... grabe jd ang power sa internet hehehe and i so love google hehe

ingon ako officemate na feature dw ni sa xxx (abs-cbn) few weeks ago. sayang wla ko kita... curious kaayo ko gi unsa nila pag run ani na scam.

[juNexbOyz]

the big telecom company maybe behind at this or not.. we will never know

[lolzlolsy]

thanks for sharing this

[sirius]

thank you
well that makes me aware about this thing

[stabwounds]

yeah number looks familiar thinking its one of them call centers looking for new people hehehe...

thanks for the info miss