Missed-Call Scam
A broad category of telephone fraud that uses a missed call as the hook to entice the victim to make a costly or fraudulent return call.
Also known as: one-ring scam, wangiri, callback scam
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
The missed-call scam encompasses any fraud that begins with an unanswered call designed to prompt a callback. The most automated variant is wangiri (one-ring), but the category also includes calls that are deliberately dropped mid-ring to avoid voicemail charges while still registering as missed, and calls made from spoofed domestic numbers that actually forward to expensive international lines.
Beyond simple premium-rate exploitation, missed calls can also be used as the first step in a social engineering sequence: the caller waits for the victim to call back and then presents a fabricated scenario (bank fraud alert, prize claim, parcel hold) to extract personal information or authorise a payment.
Mobile users can reduce exposure by registering with call-blocking services, using apps that identify known scam numbers, and applying the general rule of never calling back an unexpected number without verifying it independently. Network operators in some countries have implemented screening for anomalous single-ring calling patterns.
Examples
- A person receives three single-ring calls from different international numbers over an hour; each is a wangiri attempt expecting curiosity to drive a callback.