Kenyans Warned against Returning Strange International Calls as 'Wangiri Fraud' Returns to Kenya

Kenyans have been warned of the resurgence of an international phone calls scam that has seen several unsuspecting people across the world lose millions of shillings worth of credit.

In a statement, Communication Authority (CA) issued a fresh warning on 'Wangiri fraud', which hit Kenya four months ago when mobile phone users complained about receiving calls from strange numbers.

In the scam, users usually receive very brief calls or get notifications for missed calls from unknown numbers that mostly have prefixes +41 (Switzerland), +963 (Syria), +252 (Somalia) and +37 (Latvia).

 If users are tempted to call back, they are unknowingly redirected to premium numbers that drain lines of airtime. Wangiri is a Japanese word that means 'one ring and cut'.

 CA Director General Francis Wangusi in a statement on Thursday said the National Kenya Computer Incidence Response Team Coordination Centre had confirmed new reports of Wangiri. He warned Kenyans against returning the calls.

“If you happen to be a victim, report the number to your service provider so it is blocked," Wangusi said in a statement.