Don’t fall for the ‘Dial 401’ scam
One of the latest online scams to hit us is the so-called ‘Dial 401’ scam. It is called so because, as per how the scam works, dialling 401 followed by any mobile number gives permission for forwarding all calls to that number to another number, which belongs to the scammer.
Not only calls but SMSes too now get forwarded to the scammer’s number.
Thus, the scammer gets access to anything linked to the number, most crucially, bank accounts. They are able to siphon off money as the OTPs for permitting transactions now come to the scammer’s phone.
The scam usually starts after a person places an order. Scammers somehow get hold of orders from certain numbers and then call those up to tell the subscriber to dial 401 followed by their mobile number. This, they convince the person being scammed, would enable the delivery executive to get in touch.
Nothing of this sort happens. Rather, mostly, the person gets a mail soon after saying an amount, often large, has been debited from his account. This is how the scam operates.
The police advice for not becoming a victim to this fraud is to not respond to any request to dial 401. If one does fall victim the police must be informed.
