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RETURN an unknown missed call, and chances are you’ve been sucked into one of the latest scams that has dented hundreds of pockets across the globe. The "missed call scam", as it is popularly known, is said to have originated in the UK late last year and has spread its tentacles to other countries including Qatar. At least three residents of Doha claim to have received "continuous missed calls from an unknown international number," on their mobile phones, and once they returned the call, they were immediately greeted with a pre-recorded message saying they had won a gift. While the message continued to direct them what to do next to receive the gift, they were being charged at a higher premium rate of $3 per minute on the call they returned. It seems that the spammers apparently trace phone numbers through the Internet. "I put my number on a US university registration form. That was it. The next day the missed calls started. Not one or two, but one after the other from an international number (+496939018532)," said a Cypriot resident of Doha. She said she did not call back, as she "never returns unknown missed calls". The 31-year-old post-paid mobile phone user found out the next day she was rather lucky she did not call back. But others were not as lucky. A Filipino, working as a gym instructor in Doha, made the mistake of returning the call because he "was curious" who’s calling him repeatedly from an international number. "I thought it might be an emergency or something," he said. Also a post-paid user, before the Filipino heard out the pre-recorded message and realised it was nothing more than a marketing tactic and hung up, he had been charged $15." He, however, said he had not listed his number anywhere on the Internet. "I am not Internet savvy at all," he said. The mobile phone spam scam, which has been running since November last year, involves ‘pranking’ your mobile phone - in other words, hanging up before you have time to answer the phone - a technique that costs the spammers next to nothing. A Qtel official yesterday told Gulf Times that they were "investigating the matter," but did not give any further information. Most of the numbers, which have proven to be used for the racket, start with ‘02’, ‘03’ or ‘04’. It has further been established that the scam, which most countries have described as "a fairly unscrupulous marketing tool," originated from a UK-based company called DC Marketing, which, reportedly, has openly admitted to "buying" contact numbers from a Cyprus-based company that runs gambling and porn sites. Several countries have expressed their helplessness in curbing the marketing technique, which, they say, can only be stamped-out by the new ‘Do Not Call Register’ law. According to the law, which comes into force next year in many countries, any telemarketing company that calls phone numbers on the registry will face fines up to $250,000. And till it comes into effect in Qatar, if you receive a call from a number you don’t recognise, it is advisable not to call the number back. Satisfying your curiosity could prove a bit costly.
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