There are plenty of cyber scams doing the rounds which the scammers may use to syphon the money out of the victim's bank account.
Some of the common ways to target the targeted users could be to send links via emails, messages or chat app like whats app or telegram.
While people are still falling for such scams the scammers are always looking for new and innovative methods to loot the users.
One such method is the Call merging scam.
How does the Call merging scam operate?
A user (potential victim) receives a call from an unknown number.
The person from the other side offers the user a job. The scammer in order may tell the targeted user that his number has been given by a friend of his.
Then he informs the user that the friend of the user is going to call him from another number.
The targeted victim receives the call from another unknown number and believing it to be from his contact or friend picks up the call.
The background work or spadework that the scammer does
Online financial transactions need a one time password or OTP in order to validate the transaction.
The OTP can be obtained in two ways. One is via an SMS and the other is via a phone call.
So before or just during the call with the victim the scammers are doing some transaction using the victimes transaction which would require an OTP
They opt for the OTP via the call option.
In order to listen into the audio of the call they guise themselves as someone offering a job.
In order to validate the referrer of the job they ask the targeted victim to accept the call coming in and do a conference call.
While this may seem an innocent way to gain confidence the call is actually from the bank or a financial institution that is sending the OPT for the financial transaction via the audio call.
Since the scammer is already a part of the conference call he can very well listen to the OTP and validate the transaction at his end.
The moment the transaction gets validated the money gets debited from the targeted users account.
What can a victim do in order to avoid such a scam?
- Use the caller id to check before picking up the call from any unknown number.
- In case one does pick up such a call, do try to get details about the offer and the organization from which the user is calling.
- Make sure you do not take the person offering the job into a conference call initiated by call merging.
- In case you have become a victim of such a call merging scam make sure to report the matter immediately to the cyber fraud cell in your area by calling them.
Also lodge a complaint with the nearest police station.
Timely and prompt reporting can help the authorities track and freeze the movement of funds from your account to the one into which it is moved to.
Thus if the victim moves fast enough the funds may be recovered in part or fully and the culprits may get nabbed.
The bottom line is to stay alert and Do not fall for the call merging scam!
Opening image source: Bing image creator
Posted Using INLEO
