Scammers using UK phone numbers to target people in France

Scammers are using UK phone numbers, which begin with the prefix +44 or 0044, to target people in France, as investigators warn people to stay alert.

Rise in calls

Increased numbers of people in France have reported receiving scam or suspicious calls from unknown numbers that appear to come from the UK. 

A 'scam hunter' and online streaming expert known as Centho was interviewed by RMC Conso. He said that calls from English numbers are becoming more widespread.

“The scams are not new, we have been seeing them for over a year and a half now,” he said. “What is new is that scammers are increasingly calling from UK numbers.”

Users on online forum website Reddit have also been reporting increased calls of this kind, while the scam reporting website Signal-Arnaques has also seen an increase in reports.

Signal-Arnaques co-founder Jean-Baptiste Boisseau told RMC Conso that he is receiving an average of one report a day of scam calls that appear to come from a UK number.

“We have been seeing +44 calls for several years now, even for other types of scam,” he said. “Now we are seeing more and more of those. Often the first digit after 44 is a 7.”

Read also: Scams in France: watch out for these telephone prefixes
Read more: Alert over Wangiri telephone scams in France 

Are the calls really from the UK?

No, these calls do not actually come from callers in the UK. Instead, the criminals are ‘spoofing’ UK-based numbers to appear more legitimate (using software to make their call appear as though it is coming from a different number).

Centho added that the scam networks can use technology to help them make tens or even hundreds of thousands of phone calls, and are increasingly using UK-based numbers to appear more credible.

“I imagine they're doing it to give the impression that it's a big, rich English company that is calling,” he said. “But they could very well do it with other numbers.”

In reality, most of the calls come from scammer groups organised by ‘mafia’ gangs based in Southeast Asia, found recent investigations by Le Monde and Radio-Canada.

Many of the callers are victims themselves, and come from countries including Kenya, Uganda, and India on the promise of a job in IT. Instead, they are trafficked to Southeast Asia (including to Laos, Cambodia, and Burma) and then held as ‘cyber slaves’ by mafia networks, forced to work as scammers.

Investigations by international police agency Interpol, with the help of several NGOs, have helped to dismantle some of these gangs in recent years, but they continue to pop up. Calls from apparent ‘UK numbers’ have become more common in recent months and weeks.

What do the callers say?

Many of the calls, which are sometimes recorded messages, typically tell the recipient that they have been offered an easy, work-from-home job. These ‘jobs’ require the recipient to perform simple tasks - such as watching a video, or rating a hotel online - in return for payment in cryptocurrency.

In some cases, nothing appears to be amiss. Some victims have even been paid for the first few tasks they carry out.

“The crooks [then] assume that the victim is not going to be suspicious of them,” said Centho. “So [the fraudsters] ask the victim to pay a little to unlock even more tasks to be carried out, promising that they will make even more money. But after a while, no money is paid [and their money is stolen instead].”

And if you call back on the same number, you are unlikely to reach anyone, as the number is ‘spoofed’ and in reality is not assigned to a genuine caller.

What should I do if I receive a call?

The advice is if receiving an unexpected call out of the blue from an unknown UK number which will start with +44 or 0044 to simply ignore it. A legitimate caller will probably leave a message, send a text, or contact you in another way.

If you do answer, and it appears to be a scam, do not respond. Hang up and report the call and number to Signal-Arnaques.