How the U.S. response to one-ring ‘Wangiri’ robocall scams affects non-U.S. service providers

Wangiri is a global scourge that costs service providers $1.82 billion (€1.53 billion) annually, making it one of the top five fraud types, says John Haraburda, principal solutions engineer director, iconectiv. In this type of robocall scam, fraudsters call but hang up after the first ring hence the name wangiri, which is Japanese for “one (ring) and cut.”

When victims call back, they don’t realize that it’s a premium telephone number, and they’re hit with steep toll charges. The scam initially targeted consumers with wangiri but have expanded to businesses, including call centers. Fraudsters will call customer service centers or use online customer service portals and leave a premium telephone number when instructed to provide a callback number. The automated call center dialer then unknowingly calls that premium number.

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