After the intervention of the Federal Network Agency, the annoyance of consumers about lure calls with expensive callbacks is partly gone. After 2019 still round 000. 000 Customer complaints about so-called ping calls were received by the authorities, they were 2020 only 6500, as the network agency announced on Tuesday in Bonn. The reason for the sharp decline is an order of the authority that came into force during the course of the year 2019, according to which mobile network operators have to announce the price for certain international country codes free of charge.

Expensive callbacks For ping calls it only rings briefly on your own cell phone, whereupon you sometimes reflexively call back – and then end up abroad and have to pay high fees. The international numbers seem familiar, so the area code of Madagascar has only one zero more than the area code of Koblenz (0261), so it is also with Liberia and Dortmund (0231). The rip-offs take advantage of this similarity. Due to the price announcement, however, many people who call back after the doorbell apparently hang up in good time before charges are incurred.

The network agency advises citizens not to call back if they have no call from the countries expect. Anyone who falls for the scam can vent their anger at the Bonn authorities. They can then have a “ban on billing and collection” – that is, the telephone charges for abroad do not have to be paid. However, if the bill has already been paid, it is too late. Then the cheated has claims against strangers in distant foreign countries. (akr)