The cyber crime cell of Himachal Pradesh Police has issued a warning regarding a new account hacking technique adopted by fraudsters using call forward facility. The police have advised people to not dial any number beginning with +21, +401 and always cross verify such numbers from service providers.
Superintendent of police (SP cyber crime) Sandeep Dhawal said, “The call forwarding facility enables user to transfer or forward calls when the customer is busy or the phone is switched off or out of network coverage area. Customers can enable this facility by dialing numbers provided by telecom service provider. However, this service is being misused by some fraudsters.”
He said fraudsters call victims impersonating as customer care executive/representative of any bank/service provider. “The victim is then convinced to call on these numbers. If one dials the number, the calls are forwarded to the fraudster’s mobile number who can initiate the forgot password/ reset/ registration and can request one-time password (OTP).The modus operandi can also be used to reset social media account password or register on banking sites,” the SP said.