Calls or messages from numbers with the prefix +40, the international dialing code of Romania, could arrive on our mobile phone for very different reasons: some totally harmless, others linked to quite sophisticated scams. If you receive a contact from an unknown Romanian number (but this applies to other area codes, such as the +30 one in Greece which is affecting many people these days) and you have no direct dealings with people or companies in Romania, it is prudent to suspect that these may be fraud attempts, which are perpetrated in several ways. Regardless of how the attempted scam is physically carried out, the goal of scammers is almost always financial, which can very often be achieved by obtaining the personal data of their victims (including financial information, login credentials, habits or other sensitive details). Defending yourself from these attacks requires a minimum of forethought. Translated into practice, it means ignoring suspicious calls, not opening attachments or links from unknown numbers and blocking and reporting unwanted contacts.
How scams starting with the Romanian dialing code +40 work
The +40 area code belongs to Romania, so any calls or messages featuring it theoretically come from there. We say “in theory” because it is good to know that, with the spoofing technique, it is possible to disguise the real origin of the caller ID in a relatively simple way. Receiving a call from Romania (and more generally from a foreign area code) does not mean that it is always and only a scam: commercial relationships, applications for job offers, tax obligations or contacts related to travel and shipping can justify contact from other countries. The problem arises when you receive unexpected communications and you do not have direct relationships with Romanian senders. In these cases, it is prudent to suspect a possible scam.
One of the most common is the so-called “advance payment fraud”, in which you are promised to receive a large sum of money (perhaps with the excuse of having won a prize) which, coincidentally, must be released by paying a relatively small sum, sometimes passed off as a “tax” applied to the prize money won.
In other cases the so-called “Wangiri” phenomenon can occur: unknown numbers ring for a few seconds in order to arouse curiosity in the contacted user who, if he calls back, risks high charges or the drying up of his residual credit. Fake job offers and romance scams are also very dangerous: in this case, scammers leverage the economic or emotional needs of their victims to achieve their shady goals.
Scammers are basically looking for money, but in order to get to the loot they usually have to first raid personal information. Information that scammers are particularly fond of is financial data (for example card numbers or bank accounts) and personal data (such as name and surname, address, various contact details, login credentials, information on habits and one’s health status, and so on). Once they have obtained this information, they can resell it to third parties (usually on the Dark Web) or use it to their advantage to complete their fraud attempt.
How to protect yourself from scams with the +40 dialing code in Romania
To defend yourself from similar scams, it is essential to always keep your online defenses high by applying these simple tips.
- Ignore suspicious calls and messages: if you are not expecting any calls from Romania, why would you ever answer? Regarding messages, do not download attachments or open links from unknown senders.
- Block the number on your smartphone or on messaging apps: this way the scammer will not be able to continue contacting you using the same number (he will probably use another one to contact you within a few days if he has “targeted” you, but that’s another story).
- Activate your smartphone’s anti-spam filters: even if they are not a decisive tool, they can at least reduce the number of spam calls and scam attempts with foreign numbers.
