Cyber experts have warned of ongoing spam calls with satellite phones, intending to hack the receiver's phone and, undoubtedly, to commit financial fraud, the most modern way of duping using AI.
In the Sultanate of Oman, people are receiving calls/missed calls from numbers starting with +881 (82, 83, 84...) over the past few days, offering them lucrative deals. The callers intend to hack receivers' data and bank details.
Speaking to the Observer, Dr Haitham bin Hilal al Hajri, cybersecurity researcher and expert, sounded caution that in the past couple of years, scammers and malicious actors have been actively innovative to trick and bait unaware individuals who have little understanding of technology.
"First of all, the +881 and its associated prefix (+882,+883 etc.) are numbers that have been assigned by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to satellite telephone carriers, also known as International Networks (Iridium) satellite phone service," he said.
These prefixes are not regular phone numbers and are often used for satellite communication services in remote or difficult-to-reach areas. Also, it can be used as premium paid numbers for tech support or overseas consultant services, where they charge high fees per minute.
"Scammers and malicious actors abused this functionality and started to offer popular kinds of premium-rate phone service like horoscope and fortune telling spiritual and psychic guidance services along with adult entertainment such as gambling and adult friend finders and chat services," Dr Al Hajri said.
So the scammers started using tactics like fake advertisements, enticing offers, or misleading messages to get people to call back the intentionally missed call number, so when they call back, they get engaged in long conversations or long answering machine messages so they can charge exorbitant fees that go directly to the scammer via charging the services provider subscriber (victim) phone bill.
Some of the satellite phone services for general reference are: +881: global mobile satellite services (GMSS), +8811: (GMSS), +8812: (GMSS), +8813: (GMSS), +8816: Iridium (satellite services), +8817: Iridium (satellite services), +8818: Globalstar (satellite services), and +8819: Globalstar (satellite services).
"It's important to be cautious when receiving calls or messages from any unfamiliar numbers, especially when they are of unknown origin or country with unusual prefixes such as "+881." And its best to avoid responding and consider blocking the number," added Dr Al Hajri.
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