AN increasing number of local residents have recently received missed calls from unknown numbers on their mobile phones, which when returned, connected them with recorded advertisements at exhorbitant calling rates, Sunday’s Shenzhen Evening News reported.

Most of the calls are made from within Guangdong Province from mobile numbers starting with 134 or 159. Those who return the call often hear recorded advertisements for stain removal, lottery tickets, private detectives and so on. The calls, some of which even advertise guns and drugs, are billed at premium rates.

A woman surnamed Ying once received a call late at night when she was fast asleep. Thinking it was urgent, she called back only to hear a recorded message offering to solve her emotional problems.

A man surnamed Tang said he received four to five such calls daily while a woman known by her last name Xu told the News that she was charged 30 yuan (US$3.95) when she returned the call.

An employee with China Mobile’s Shenzhen Branch who was not identified by the News report suggested that people who receive a call from an unknown number send a text message asking who the caller is. If the text message is not returned, it is most likely to be an ad call. Once they realize the call was from a scammer, people should hang up at once, the employee said.

Police said it was hard for them to investigate the matter as China’s mobile phone users are yet to register using their real names.

(Eunice Kang)