Wangiri Fraud

Wangiri (Japanese for 'one ring and cut') is a fraud where attackers initiate very brief calls to large lists of subscribers from international or premium-rate numbers; victims who call back are charged high termination fees that the fraudster shares. Defences include carrier-side blocking of suspect originating ranges, alerting users to unusual incoming numbers, and consumer-education campaigns.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkIdentity and SubscriberThreats and Attacks

Wangiri Fraud in context

The radio access network is the layer where mobile devices attach to the operator's infrastructure. Attacks in this layer include IMSI catching, rogue base stations, downgrade attacks and jamming, and defenses hinge on mutual authentication, integrity-protected signaling and Open RAN supply-chain hygiene.

Subscriber identifiers (IMSI, SUPI, MSISDN, IMEI) are the anchor for authentication, charging, lawful interception and fraud analytics. Any protocol or interface that leaks a permanent identifier is treated as a serious privacy defect, which is why 5G introduced SUCI concealment on the air interface.

To place Wangiri Fraud in the wider telecom-security picture, review IRSF, Malware, SIMBox Fraud, SMS Pumping, Toll Bypass and CLI Refile.

Related terms

Related topic hubs

  • Telecom Fraud IRSF, Wangiri, SIM box, PBX hacking and CLI spoofing.
  • Diameter Security 4G/LTE Diameter threats across IPX/roaming and DEA defenses.
  • Diameter Attacks S6a IDR/PUR/CLR abuse, subscriber tracking, LTE signaling attacks.
  • VoLTE Security IMS/VoLTE signaling risk: SIP, IMS-AKA, media plane attacks.

More from the TelcoSec Glossary

Browse the full TelcoSec Glossary, the Ultimate Guide to Mobile Network Security, or the P1 Arsenal of telecom-security tools.