The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued a consumer advisory to prevent malicious incoming calls and safeguard against cybercrimes and frauds. It has advised citizens to beware of receiving malicious incoming calls asking them to dial *401# followed by some unknown mobile number. As per DoT, this activates unconditional call forwarding received on the mobile of the citizen to the unknown mobile number and allows the fraudster to receive all incoming calls and can be used for fraud.
The DoT said that it has been actively informing all users and reiterates regularly how to protect against such frauds. It said that telecom service providers never ask their subscribers to dial *401#. It has asked users to check their mobile phone settings for call forwarding and disable it immediately in case it is enabled. DoT suggested that users must use the facility only when it is required.
