Robocall “One Ring” Scam On The Rise

Have you gotten one of those weird calls in the middle of the night from an unknown number, but they hung up before you could answer? Don’t call it back. It’s a scam!

These scammers sometimes robocall you repeatedly, hoping you’ll call back, which means you’ll be paying a per minute toll charge similar to a 900 number, but that money goes directly to them. Victims are reporting the phone number begins with “2-2-2”, which is a country code from West Africa.

If you get one of these calls, don’t answer it, report it to the FCC, and check your phone bill regularly for charges you don’t recognize.

Advances in technology allow massive amounts of calls to be made cheaply and easily. In addition, spoofing tools make it easy for scammers to mask their identity. The FCC is working to combat scam calls with enforcement actions, a strong push for caller ID authentication, and support for call blocking tools. Another key tool is consumer education like this alert and the FCC’s One Ring scam consumer guide.