The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is warning consumers of a robocall scam called the “One Ring.” Apparently the “One Ring” isn’t new but it is back and hitting consumers hard. For the best results the scam is generally executed in the middle of the night.
The scammers launch a series of “One Ring” calls to the victims phones hanging up almost immediately. These calls are suspected to be made via a robocall program so there are no live people on the other end. The program calls the victim over and over again and continues to hang up.
The hope is that the victims will call the number back, thinking there is some sort of emergency, and that’s when the scammers catch their prey. When you call the number back, it starts racking up toll charges to your phone which appear on your next phone bill.
“Recent reports indicate these calls are using the ‘222’ country code from the West African nation of Mauritania,” the FCC said in a news release. “News reports have indicated widespread overnight calling in New York State and Arizona.”
NBC 5 Chicago
The Federal Communications Commission says there’s no way to stop these annoying calls. The best advice they can give is to never call back a phone number you do not recognize. Better yet, do not answer the phone at all. The Google Pixel 3 has a call screening feature that allows you to answer phone calls with Google.
We’ve used this feature with much success over the past month. I’d say that 99% of the time when using the call screen feature, the spam and robocalls hang up. You can then use Google to block that number and report it as spam. An alternative to Google’s call screening feature is an app called RoboKiller, which I have also used and it works very well.
For now, if you don’t have that feature or don’t want to get RoboKiller, you should just avoid phone calls from numbers you do not recognize. You could also put your phone on Do Not Disturb in the evening hours and you can even set Do Not Disturb to take calls from only recognized numbers.
What do you think of this “One Ring” robocall scam? Have you been targeted? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
[button link=”https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/tech/Dont-Call-Back-FCC-Warns-of-One-Ring-Phone-Scam-509452241.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_CHBrand” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: NBC 5 Chicago[/button]Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
