Of late, people have been sharing concerns on social media regarding the calls they are receiving from a country calling code 257.
Some complained with the telecom operators that they receive several miss calls and when they attempt to call back, their balance gets deducted.
Bhutan Telecom (BT) said people anxiously call back to such numbers and they are charged the international call rate. According to BT, the calling code 257 is that of a country named Burundi in Africa. They added that however such calls can be made from any country and thus difficult to trace since calls are made through Voice over internet protocol. It is a technology that allows one to make voice calls using the internet.
For TashiCell also, their customers logged similar complaints and traced tow different numbers to Burundi and Congo. They have blocked incoming and outgoing calls to Congo but only incoming calls from Burundi will be blocked because there are some Bhutanese living there.
Some mobile users also vented out their frustration that when this kind of calls are attended, their money is deducted from the Bank of Bhutan (BoB)’s mobile app. However, BoB officials denied it.
“There is no chance of money being deducted from the Mbob because our security systems are very intact,” said the BoB’s Chief Executive Officer, Pema N Nadik.
CEO also reaffirmed that they do not have automatic cross border fund transfer arrangement so even if the hackers are successful, the money will remain within the country and easily traceable.
Meanwhile telecom officials have sent alert text messages to the users to be caution of answering such random calls.
