What on earth is the Wangiri scam? 

Ever had a call from an international number you didn’t recognise? It could be a ‘Wangiri’ call – a scam that could leave you seriously missing some cash.

Fraud or scams of any kind can be a worry. So, here’s everything you need to know about Wangiri calls.

‘Wangiri’ is a Japanese word meaning ‘one ring and drop’. And a Wangiri call does just that. Calls usually cut off just as the phone rings, leaving a missed call message from an international, or unusual number.

Calling back can be tempting – you want to find out who was calling, right? But if you do, chances are that you’ll be routed to an expensive, premium rate service.

This is a scam that’s targeting customers of mobile operators around the world. We’ve invested in an intelligence system that actively monitors for fake numbers, so we can protect our customers from fraud. And we automatically block numbers that we know are used.

We’re working hard to stop these types of calls from reaching our customers. But there’s still a chance that a small number of them may get through.

So, if you get an unexpected call from an unusual, or unknown international number, here’s how to protect yourself against Wangiri:

• Don’t answer any unexpected calls from international or unusual numbers.
  
  
• If you’ve a missed call from an international or unusual number, don’t be tempted to call them back. 
  
  
• Report any suspicious calls by texting CALL to 7726 – free from your Three mobile. We’ll reply by text asking for the number you’re receiving nuisance calls from, and we’ll investigate further. 
   

If you’d like to know more about mobile phone fraud, check out our security page. Or visit Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre.