Five countries where phone scammers usually hide

Even though no state is notably worse than another one, some have less effective legal or preventative systems that allow phone scammers to prosper. Usually when people receive a call from a foreign country (the number starts with a different country code), they should immediately be slightly more sceptical. Knowing the geography of phone scammers and their most prominent tricks, you can utilise such tools as a free reverse phone lookup to protect yourselves, your money or even your company.

+1-473 or 809 scams from the Caribbean

As you may or may not know, US phone numbers start with the numerical indication “1”. The number “1” is US’ country code which helps people who are receiving the calls to identify the location of the caller. However, the same numerical code “1” is used by Caribbean countries/islands of Grenada, Saint Lucia, Dominica.

Nevertheless, the numbers originating from these countries have additional area codes, such as 1-473 (for Grenada), etc. For unsuspecting foreign business people or individuals, it may seem as a caller from the United States is trying to get in touch, whilst in reality, things are totally different. It helps to know the country codes by heart, primarily if you work in an international company or office.

Here’s a list to help you do that. However, also remember that there is a reverse phone lookup which is going to help locate and identify the caller and their location. Protect yourselves from Caribbean based phone scammers with free reverse phone lookup services.

India and Nigeria, the two of the biggest

We all know such scams like the African prince emails, which usually originate from Nigeria. Alternatively, almost all of us have received at least one call from an unknown Indian company enquiring about business and investment prospects. However, while Nigeria is usually associated with email scams, you should be extremely aware when receiving a call from an unknown phone number with the Nigerian country code. See the information about the number, do a reverse lookup and know for sure.

India has almost one and a half billion citizens. It is an incredibly vast, diverse and populous nation. With that diversity also comes a considerable risk of fraud and a lot of phone scams. Raids on them happen quite frequently, and police do their best to suppress and prevent crime, but if you are not aware of the looming threats yourself, no one can protect you. As estimates vary, the average of victims that fall for only Indian phone scams is more than 12 thousand. Moreover, that’s every week. Once again, answer only the calls from numbers you know and for those you don’t – check them.

Eastern Europe

Some Eastern European countries are known to be hotbeds for illicit activities. Corruption amongst law enforcement and government representatives make it simple for criminals to set up and conduct fraudulent operations. Usually, there are established call centres in countries like Ukraine or Romania where tens or maybe hundreds of people work to lure away money or valuable information. They can also disguise with German, British or French phone codes to make it more difficult to track. However, likely, you are not the first victim or potential target of these scammers. Always make sure to check the number on phone lookup sites. We cannot stress this enough.

Indonesia

Indonesia is a rising threat. Due to a very high number of people and a slightly more impoverished society than say Japan or South Korea, this Far East country sees a substantial increase in phone and related fraud. Criminal syndicates arise where through phone calls scammers pretend to be the bank and capture/steal a person’s bank account information.