The largest mobile services provider Bharti Airtel today warned mobile users to avoid responding to suspicious/fraudulent calls which ask for personnel information.
In an advisory, Airtel said some customers are arbitrarily being targeted by callers who pretend to be calling on behalf of the telecom operator and inform the recipient and he has won a lottery conducted by the respective operator.
The company asked the subscribers to avoid responding to such suspicious calls and SMSes. It has also asked them to refrain from sharing personal information and identity proof or SIM number to unknown callers.
Elaborating on the fraud, the company said a customer receives a missed call from a number starting with +92. Upon returning the missed call the unsuspecting caller reaches a fraudster pretending to be representative of Airtel or another operator and informs the customer of having won an operator-sponsored lottery.
The fraudster then attempts to con the customer into divulging sensitive personal information and to pay a commission to receive the winnings.