Alarm as international call scam hits Kenya

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An international scam in which mobile phone users are fleeced of their money by fraudsters has spread to Kenya, causing jitters among local service providers.

In the scam, victims receive very brief or missed calls from unknown international numbers with frequent prefixes being  +41 (Switzerland), +963 (Syria), +252 (Somalia), and +37 (Latvia).

The scheme is designed to lure phone users into returning the “urgent” international calls, upon which they are unknowingly redirected to premium numbers that drain lines of credit.

The longer the caller stays on the line, the more money the swindlers make.

The scam, dubbed “wangiri” because the phone rings only once,  has been reported elsewhere across the world, leading telecom firms in Europe and the United States (US) to raise the alarm.