The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) on January 11, 2024, issued a notification for taking proactive measures to prevent cyber fraud.
The Department has advised citizens to beware of receiving malicious incoming calls asking them to dial *401# followed by some unknown mobile number.
This activates unconditional call forwarding received on the citizen's mobile to the unknown mobile number. This allows fraudsters to receive all incoming calls and can be used for fraud.
The DoT explains how the scamsters operate and their Modus Operandi:
i.The fraudster calls the telecom subscriber and pretends to be a customer service representative or technical support staff from their telecom service provider.
ii.The fraudster states that either there is a problem with their SIM card or there is some issue related to network or service quality and they need to dial a specific code to fix the problem. This code usually starts with *401# followed by a mobile number.
iii.After doing so unconditional call forwarding is activated on their mobile number and all incoming calls etc. are forwarded to the fraudster's mobile number.
iv.The fraudster then receives all incoming calls and can be used for fraud.
[Notification No. 1995304]
