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Symbolic image spam call: »unlawful background«
Photo: Jan-Philipp Strobel/ dpa
Scammers are apparently using the number of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) to continue a scam of spam calls that has been rampant for months.
The BSI warns "emphatically against giving callers personal data," says the Bonn authority on its website.
According to the BSI, it can be assumed that the calls have a “legal abusive background”.
Those affected should simply hang up immediately.
The cases lined up in a scam of spam calls.
Scammers use hijacked phone numbers to try to get sensitive data from their victims or to get them to transfer money (read more about the so-called Europol scam here).
The BSI emphasizes that it is not a call from the authority.
According to those affected, the fraudsters would use the slightly different authority numbers +49 228 9582 44 or 0228 9582 44, according to the BSI.
They look confusingly similar to the BSI extension numbers.
With the help of so-called phone number spoofing, fraudsters had pretended to their victims in the past few weeks that the Federal Criminal Police Office or the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution was calling.
In fact, the technical trick was only used to show the number of the authorities on the victims' displays.
Anyone who has already accepted a call from the fake BSI number should contact the BSI service center.
It can be reached on 0800 274 1000.
hpp/dpa