Department of Telecommunications On Thursday, it warned users about phone calls made with malicious intentions. They have been asked to be cautious of such calls in which they are asked to call an unknown number after dialing ‘Star 401 hashtag’ (*401#).
risk of fraud
Calling an unknown number by dialing *401# allows fraudsters to receive ‘incoming calls’ of all related users and can be used for fraud. If a user wants to do this, then whatever call comes to the user’s mobile gets ‘forwarded’ to the phone of the unknown person making the call.
Government cautioned users
The department has advised citizens to beware of such incoming calls with malicious intent in which they are asked to dial ‘Star 401 Hashtag’ and then call someone unknown. Mobile You are asked to dial the number. According to the statement, this enables unconditional call forwarding of calls coming to citizens’ mobiles to unknown mobile numbers. This allows fraudsters to receive all incoming calls and can be used for fraud.
This is how you can become a victim of fraud
Explaining the modus operandi of the scam, the Department of Telecommunications said a fraudster would call a telecom customer and direct them to a customer service representative or technical support staff from their telecom service provider. After this the troublemaker says that either there is a problem with their SIM card or there is some problem related to the network or service quality. Then, the customer is asked to dial a specific code to fix the problem. The code usually starts with ‘Star 401 Hashtag’ followed by a mobile number. Once this is done, unconditional call ‘forwarding’ starts to the respective mobile number.
Check your mobile phone’s settings for call forwarding
The Department of Telecommunications said that telecom service providers never ask their customers to dial ‘Star 401 hashtag’. Citizens are advised to check the settings of their mobile phones for call forwarding and if call ‘forwarding’ facility is provided by dialing ‘Star 401 Hashtag’ then turn it off immediately.