Canadian Wireless Users Keep Getting Calls from Somalia in Latest Scam [u]

Some wireless users in Canada, in particular those on Telus, Koodo and Freedom Mobile, keep getting spammed with calls from Somalia to their wireless numbers.

According to iPhone in Canada reader Lee based in Calgary, Alberta, he’s received over 10 calls in a day from a number located in Somalia and its 252 area country code. Check out the screenshot shared of his Recents call list below:

Leepalisoc 2018 Mar 16

He’s not alone in receiving them, as numerous family and friends have also received this spam calls, which come at all hours of the day.

Other Calgarians have voiced their similar experiences on Reddit about getting non-stop calls from Somalia as well, along with those in the /r/Alberta sub-reddit, where one user wrote:

I’ve gotten two calls, one I rejected and one was a missed call. Someone in our town has had 43 missed calls in 4 days. It’s nuts. And everyone says the same thing – Telus can’t help. They’re telling people to change their phone numbers, which obviously won’t help.

What’s the point of all these missed calls? When you call them back, you end up being connected to an answering machine, which plays hold music in an attempt to keep you on hold for as long as possible, which racks up long distance rates.

Swedish police warned its citizens of this phone scam last year as reported by The Local. Earlier this year, Global News reported on the same phone call scam affecting Canadians on Rogers. Users were told to not answer any calls.

The scam itself plays on people only having one phone line and their curiosity of receiving missed calls and possibly some sort of important event from someone in Somalia. This is like the “Nigerian Prince” email scam but version 2.0 in the form of a phone call.

What can you do to stop these calls? You can try blocking numbers, so they can’t call you back. Just go to the Phone app on your iPhone, tap the Recents tab, and tap the “i” icon next to the missed call. From here, tap ‘Block this Caller’ and you won’t hear from them again. The problem is, it appears tonnes of Somalian numbers are being used, so blocking them doesn’t appear to have much effect.

We’ve reached out to carriers for comment on this and will update this article accordingly. In the meantime, if you’re getting missed calls from Somalia, don’t call back. If someone has something important to tell you, they’ll leave a voicemail or find another way to get a hold of you.

Have you been getting missed calls from Somalia?

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