Whatsapp message with prefix 212 or 225, who is it?

In just a few hours, many users have denounced in various Internet forums and social networks having received a WhatsApp message from a number that begins with the prefix 212 and 225. As described by several users, the content of the message urges make a call to the same phone number or to a similar one for some “urgent” reason. Both prefixes come from Morocco and Ivory Coast, but what is really hidden behind this type of message? We see it.

I have received a message on WhatsApp from a number with the prefix 225 or 212

It is enough to do a brief search on the Internet to find out some of the comments that circulate around the prefix 225 and 212. “They also sent me WhatsApp with that 212. I blocked it immediately”, “They send audios in Moroccan. What is it? ”,“ I received two messages on WhatsApp and an audio ”. Most of the affected people claim to have received different messages through WhatsApp. Others, on the other hand, claim to have received calls through the application. Both cases belong to what is known as the 'Missed Call Scam'.

It is a type of scam where the only objective is to receive a call 'back'. As the Civil Guard has confirmed, the robbers make use of pay phone numbers to collect the call through a system very similar to what we have in Spain with the payment prefixes 902, 901 and 807. The difference with respect to to our country is that the regulation of this type of phones outside of Spain is much more permissive, so the amount charged can be multiplied by 10, 20, 30 and even 40 times. Some people claim to have received a charge on the phone bill of up to 400 euros.

twitter.com/guardiacivil/status/891033021029072896

In the Civil Guard's own statement through its official Twitter profile, the agency has provided a series of prefixes used to forge this type of scam. Prefixes such as 233 (for Ghana), 234 (for Nigeria) or 355 (for Albania). The different security forces also emphasize the reception of SMS and calls through these same numbers. We leave you below with a list of phone numbers that we have compiled from various forums on the net:

• +212 650 418 830
• +212 767352858
• +212 682302268
• +212 650227684
• +212 682642433
• +212 618467042
• +212 618139902212 682859825
• +212 661371316
• +212 618221853
• +212 682098081
• +212 661793189
• +212 650459490

How to block WhatsApp calls and messages from numbers with prefix 225 and 212

In this type of case, what we recommend from tuexpertomovil.com is to block any means of contact with the number in question. To block the messages of the number in WhatsApp, the application itself will show us two buttons next to the header of the application that will allow us to block the messages permanently or add the phone to our contact list, as can be seen in the lower image.

If what we want is to block calls and messages from the number on our phone, the simplest solution is to resort to the native Android and iOS options, which we can access from the Messages and Calls application. In general, it is enough to press and hold the number until an option appears that allows us to block SMS or calls from the contact.

Another more useful option if possible is to make use of specialized applications, such as True Caller for Android or Mr. Number for iOS. The difference of these applications with respect to the previous method is that they use a database to identify suspicious numbers. This database is fed by other users: if the number in question has received a high number of reports, the call will be automatically identified and blocked.

List of spam numbers identified by tuexpertomovil.com