Be wary of phone numbers starting with: 090..., 04..., 08....
Recently, many users have been receiving missed calls from domestic mobile or landline numbers. However, when they call back, they are redirected to service numbers offering dating and relationship-related advertisements designed to scam them out of money!
This is a new scam following the missed call scam using satellite phone numbers.
Exploiting loopholes in network providers.
Text messages from certain mobile phone numbers "invite" you to contact the 1900xxxx hotline.
This is a new form of "terrorism," a variation of the scam involving missed calls from satellite phone numbers (with the +88 prefix), causing many mobile phone users to lose hundreds of thousands of dong. Here, the scammers use call forwarding services provided by mobile network operators to redirect calls from their regular phone numbers to a service hotline number. While users may not be charged much (only for calls to mobile or landline numbers, not to the service hotline), the inconvenience is certainly unavoidable.
Furthermore, according to our research, current network operators all offer call forwarding services to other subscribers. Users can easily register for these services at a relatively low cost. Importantly, users freely choose which subscriber to forward their calls to, without any binding relationship with that subscriber. Therefore, this loophole is increasingly being exploited by various parties to advertise such call forwarding services.
1900 “terrorism”
According to experts, this is a new form of spam advertising alongside the problem of spam messages. Besides missed calls, users are now constantly being "terrorized" by SMS messages inviting them to call value-added service numbers like 1900xxxx, such as "Call me back at 1900xxxx", "Call me back at xxxxx", "Call 1900xxxxxx to talk and confide in me", "A girl sent me a song, call 1900xxxx to hear the lyrics and message"...
Mr. Thang, the owner of the phone number 090872xxxx, received a text message from the number 0126969… with the content “Call me back at 1900xxxx”. Thinking it was some kind of call from someone, Mr. Thang immediately called back the number that sent the message but couldn't get through. However, when he called 1900xxxx, he connected and “in less than a minute, 30,000 VND was deducted from his phone account.”
Similarly, many other users have reported being charged tens of thousands of dong after being tricked into calling 1900xxxx or 1900xxxxxx numbers, even for very short calls. Ms. My, the owner of the phone number 094585xxxx, said: “Calling these numbers only results in hearing frivolous dating and friendship advertisements, but when I check my account, a lot of money has been deducted…” Upon investigation, we learned that calling 1900xxxx or 1900xxxxxx numbers can cost up to 15,000 dong per minute.
Mr. Nguyen Son Hai, Deputy Head of Vinaphone's Business Department, frankly admitted that the advertising of services via 1900 numbers is rampant through spam messages and missed calls. Mr. Hai affirmed that Vinaphone is ready to cooperate in dealing with the businesses and individuals behind these service numbers.
According to Mr. Hai, when Vinaphone receives complaints from users about text messages or missed calls intended to advertise a particular service number, they will monitor and compile statistics based on customer feedback. “However, if there are only one or two complaints, according to the law on spam messages, we cannot take action. But when we can confirm a case, we cannot take action.”"If a phone number sends mass spam messages or creates missed calls for advertising purposes, as reported, we are ready to deduct revenue from their account or even terminate the contract. In fact, Vinaphone has handled many such cases recently," Mr. Hai said.
According to Tuoitre-M
