CRC has received information on telephone frauds with international numbers. The fraud scheme is the so-called Wangiri fraud, in which short/zero machine-generated calls to subscribers generate missed call notifications intended to provoke returning calls to international numbers. Often these are numbers that provide value added services, resulting in unwanted international traffic, respectively in charging higher rates for calls.

In relation to the information received, CRC has carried out inspections.

It was found out that short calls were made to Bulgarian subscribers by phone numbers from Slovenia (+38643), Benin (+229), Sierra Leone (+232), Congo (+224), Albania (+355), Kosovo (+38643 и +38649), Nauru (+674) and Equatorial Guinea (+240). The calls were made with the aim to provoke outgoing returning calls or sending short text messages from the Bulgarian subscriber to the calling number.

Mobile operators have been notified of the problem and appropriate measures have been undertaken to block the numbering ranges mentioned.

CRC advises consumers to be vigilant. CRC would remind that the international dialing code of the Republic of Bulgaria is +359. Therefore, when consumers receive calls from a destination with a different country code, they should treat them with enhanced caution. Calls or messages sent to telephone numbers with a different country prefix are charged as international calls.

In order to restrict the adverse financial consequences, CRC advises consumers against calling back or sending back short text messages to numbers from the ranges mentioned or to numbers they are unfamiliar with or seem suspicious.