Mobile phone fraud

It happens when a sales representative persuades the customers to buy non-existent or substandard items. The fraud happens when one approves of undesirable premium service unknowingly and gets registered to worthless expensive subscriptions. In other cases, the callers impersonate a charity fundraiser or one of your friends or relatives and seek help. 

There can be marketing - Pitching services with certain terms, offering free product trials, loans, low-risk investment deals, debt reduction or cheap travel packs. One should ask questions from telemarketers before contemplating purchasing or donating anything. Sometimes you get automatic replies and bills for participating in campaigns or non-profit fellowships. 

There are many other types of such scams. 

Missed - You get a missed call, which you do not recognise, and you redial. In such a case, you may be redirected to a premium rate of £15 per call.

Recorded message- The target gets a message that informs "they won a prize," but as they try to respond to claim the money, their phone number is redirected to the premium rates subscriptions.

The client gets a message from someone worded as if from a friend. When they try to answer, they enter a lengthy SMS exchange with the sender of the message, and the victim finds they have been charged at a higher rate for the messages. 

Some get low- Cost ring tone offers, and when they accept it, you are subscribed to a service that sends multiple ring tones automatically and deducts at a premium rate. Certain authorised firms are offering the tones, but bogus ones hide the true cost of their offers. 

Some sell phone insurance, and they pretend to be calling from the shop where you bought the phone or from the mobile network. Unfortunately, the device holds a lot of information. In addition, they try to access your emails or mobile banking apps, so you should always be careful not to divulge secretive details to such representatives.

If you have been a victim - 

If you suffer any such scam, call the mobile phone provider or the telecom operator. The firms have statutory powers to stop premium rate subscriptions and fine the criminals. 

How To Protect Yourself?

• The phone service providers have their security settings, and you can use them to protect the device from unsolicited access.

• You can set up new passwords and lock the device when not in use. Always keep your mobile with yourself, do not give it to others at shops and do not access public networks for banks transactions. You can use the user guide to make changes in the basic settings to remove harmful intrusions.

• If the phone is stolen, inform the provider to block the ID and deactivate the number and the device. Change all the passwords you saved on your device.

• Do not install the apps from unknown sources on your smartphone.

• If you visit a website, and if the URL appears suspicious, close it down immediately.

• Do not respond to unknown numbers, and if you sell the device, delete all the files and clear the content. For mobiles, you can perform a factory reset to clear all the private content.

• Always install a set-up pin on your voicemail to ensure only you have access to the messages. Further, you can call the voicemail on your device and then follow the guidelines to set it up.

• Modern tablets and mobiles have a remote lock system that one can use to track a stolen phone. Multiple apps offer such features, or you can check the manufacturer's website to download it.

• Always be careful when you upgrade the system.