When you miss a call from a number you don’t know, do you call back right away? Making that call could be a big mistake, as you might be the next victim of the “one-ring” scam.
In this scam, your phone will ring. When you try to pick it up (or even before you have a chance to answer), the caller hangs up. If you’re curious enough to call the number back, you’ll hear music or ads playing and you’ll, unknowingly, be connected to an international caller-paid service or chat number. Depending on how long you stay on the line, you could be billed $19.95 – or more.
Some tips to protect yourself against the one-ring scam:
- Don’t call back. If you get a missed call from a number you don’t recognize, don’t call back. It might be a scammer on the other end. Legit callers will leave a message or a text.
- Check your phone bill. Each month, carefully check your bill and look for unexpected charges.
- Limit your options. Call your service provider to see if you can restrict third-party billing (that’s when other companies or organizations can request payment from you by adding a charge to your telephone bill).
If you’ve been a victim of this scam, report it to your parents or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
ADDITIONAL READING:
Cell phone scams: what do you need to look for?
Own a cell phone? You need to know about ‘smishing’
Password day: protect yourself with these tips!
How to stay safe and savvy on public Wi-Fi
I would say that the big telecom companies have the technology to curtail activity of this nature but for some reason they allow it. That would suggest that they are in collusion with the scammers!!!! And why wouldn’t they be? They make $$$ from every call. I would like to see a class action suit to clean up the big telecom companies’ mistreated of their monopolized clientele. Never happen though.
Hi James — Good that you checked the number, as this may be a scam that’s making the rounds (here’s information we wrote about this scam: http://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/blog/item/195-a-scam-warning-from-canada-revenue-agency). If you think there’s a chance the CRA might be looking to get in touch with you, the best thing to do is to call the CRA using the contact information listing on their website and verify whether or not they called. Hope that helps!
I received a phone call from 1-866-864-5835; but can’t locate that number on CRA website. Noticed the voicemail left was left as “THE Canada Revenue Agency.”
Hi Michaela, thank you for leaving us a comment. We are not aware of this specific number but you may want to run a reverse phone number search on the Internet and see if the number is registered to anyone you know. I hope this helps, Michaela!
Hi Melaina,
I keep receiving phone calls from this number : +1(604)675-2700. I am not answering as I am in UK so I think might be a scam as I never called all the way in Canada.
Please let me know if you have more info.
Many thanks