Italy is struck by a worrying increase in the “Wangiri” telephone scam, a Japanese term literally meaning “a ringtone and we hang up”. According to the Italian authorities and the Interpol, the majority of these scam calls come from numbers based in Tunisia, using the prefix +216, although they also, more rarely, from Great Britain or Eastern European countries.
The operating mode consists in briefly ringing the victim’s phone. If it recalls, it is redirected to surcharged lines which generate exorbitant costs in a few seconds. A scam aimed at extracting money from unsuspected citizens.
Faced with this scourge, the Italian police are sounding the alarm. They struggle to fight against these scams mainly taking root in Tunisia. Tracking the thugs operating from abroad and constantly changing numbers is very difficult.
The advice given is never to recall an unknown number after a short missed call, and to use applications to block suspect calls. They deplore the difficulty in tracking down these transnational criminal networks which easily relocate.
If the scam currently strikes Italy and emanates mainly from Tunisia, it should be remembered that Wangiri has also been identified from numbers from Morocco, Chad, Albania or England. Its targets vary according to the geographic and historical proximity between countries.
