Cunning scam

When fraudsters misuse your cell phone number

Cell phone scammers use many tricks to deceive their victims (symbolic image).

(Bild: terovesalainen - stock.adobe.com)

A Carinthian suddenly received angry calls from several people. He was told to stop with the sales offers. But he had never called the angry people.

"A German number called one day. An angry gentleman demanded that I finally stop with the annoying calls, he didn't want to buy anything from me," the Carinthian told the "Krone" newspaper. "I was completely confused, because I had certainly never called this person. I can't explain how this could have happened."

I've been bombarded with calls for days. Several times from Germany, but there was even a number from Belgium. Why can't anything be done?

Der betroffene Kärntner, mit dessen Nummer die Betrüger Anrufe tätigen.

Fake cell phone number
The English term spoofing is probably behind this mysterious case. "This is the falsification of the caller's identity so that a fake number appears on the display of the person's phone," explains the Home Office. Fraudsters obtain the numbers via public directories.

Once this is the case, the only option left for those affected is to change their cell phone number. "There is currently no way to prevent the misuse of a telephone number," is the sobering information from the Ministry of the Interior.

Beware of unknown numbers
The fraudsters are always based abroad, as it is impossible for domestic network operators to check the number under the current legal situation. In addition to false sales calls, calls from parcel services, tax offices or even the police are faked. There are fee-based services that can be used to protect against some of these calls. "But the general rule is to maintain healthy skepticism when receiving calls from unknown numbers," the experts advise.