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The Cyber Crime Police Station of Pimpri Chinchwad Commissionerate has issued an advisory warning people about call forwarding frauds. In these scams, the mobile phone users are manipulated into dialling Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes also known as quick codes to activate call forwarding, allowing fraudsters to intercept messages and calls, leading to financial and privacy breaches.
What are call forwarding scams?
The advisory was issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dr Shivaji Pawar on the backdrop of several call forwarding scams being reported across the country and also in Maharashtra. The advisory noted that call forwarding scams are a category of cyber frauds where online criminals forward or divert a citizen’s mobile phone calls or SMSs to their own mobile numbers. Through this, OTPs, verification calls, and other confidential calls meant for the citizen’s mobile are diverted to the fraudsters’ phones.
The advisory said that cyber criminals often contact citizens pretending to be from a bank or cell provider companies or another trusted institution, claiming that the victim’s KYC is incomplete or SIM will be deactivated soon. They trick them into dialling a USSD code which usually contains symbols such as # or *, along with a combination of numbers in the middle. When citizens dial such USSD codes, their incoming calls start getting forwarded.
For example, the user is manipulated or pressured into dialling codes like 401<Mobile Number># or 21<Mobile Number>#. Once dialled, these codes activate call forwarding on the citizen’s phone, the advisory said.
Consequences of call forwarding
1) One Time Password theft: OTPs are required for bank transactions, UPI and Credit/Debit Card transactions. When the bank sends an OTP to the citizen’s phone, it gets forwarded to the fraudster. The fraudster then uses this OTP for confirmation, allowing them to steal money from the victim’s bank account or UPI app.
2) Blocking of citizen’s mobile calls: Victims may notice that they are not receiving calls. They might assume it’s a network problem, but in reality, their calls have been diverted to the fraudster’s number.
3) Social engineering frauds: The fraudster may contact the victim’s relatives, friends or other contacts using the diverted number and deceive them as well and misuse the forwarded calls and messages to perpetrate scams or blackmailing.
4) Privacy breach: Important verification calls, job or interview related calls, or business-related, private and personal communications may be accessed by cyber criminals breaching the privacy of the users.
Precautions to avoid such frauds: Never dial any USSD code at the instruction of an unknown person. To check if call forwarding is active, dial ##21# on your phone. If you see “Call Forwarding Enabled”, immediately turn it off. To deactivate all types of call forwarding, dial ##002#. If the issue persists, contact your mobile service provider’s customer care. Avoid sharing your mobile number or SIM-related details with strangers. For more information about such frauds, visit http://www.cybercrime.gov.in or contact the Cyber Helpline at 1930 or 14564, the advisory read.
