“As such, when attempts run into the billions, even a tiny success rate makes the economics work, which makes scams highly lucrative. He said a large number of scam calls originate from overseas and use voice-over-internet-protocol technology that allows calls to be generated cheaply before making its way here through international gateways. Raymon said this makes scam operations scalable and adaptable, enabling rapid rotation of numbers and routes when blocks are imposed. “The result is a shift from crude mass attempts to psychologically-tailored scams, making ­detection harder and scam attacks far more convincing,” Sundramoorthy said. The Communications Ministry also revealed that many of the phone scams rely on caller ID spoofing where fraudsters mask their true identity to display trusted or recognisable numbers.

Source: The Star December 22, 2025 00:55 UTC