Dial +44 70 (UK number) for international online fraud

A few years ago I created the Scam-O-Matic (www.scamomatic.com), a website that every month has helped thousands of people worldwide by automatically diagnosing online fraud emails that people have submitted to it. Scamomatic.com recognizes fake lotteries, “dead customer” scams, “dying widow” scams and many other common formats from scammers from Nigeria that you may have seen in your inbox before. Even when it can’t pinpoint the exact type of scam, it often recognizes it as a generic scam format, largely thanks to the presence in the email of UK phone numbers that start with +44 70. These numbers are everywhere in Nigerian online scams, regardless of the precise scam format. The +44 70 prefix might as well be called the country code of Nigerian scammers.

If you receive any email that mentions any +4470 phone number, do not reply to it! You can submit the body of any suspicious email message to www.scamomatic.com for instant feedback about what kind of scam it might be.

These +4470 numbers are a gift to online scammers by British phone regulators. They are primarily owned by obscure British phone companies offering an anonymous call forwarding service. The economic model of these services is simple: The caller dials a rather expensive UK number and the UK service provider forwards the incoming call to a somewhat less expensive to call international number (for example a Nigerian mobile phone, which remains hidden from the caller), pocketing the difference between the call rates. For example, the caller might pay 50 cents per minute to call a +44 70 number and the call will then be forwarded to a Nigerian mobile phone that costs 25 cents per minute, leaving 25 cents per minute as a net margin for the service operator. The more successful the scammers are, the more money the phone company makes. Who ever said crime doesn’t pay?

These UK phone numbers are very attractive to scammers: When people can be made to believe that they are dealing with a bank, lawyer or government official in London, UK when they’re actually talking to a scammer on his cell phone in an Internet cafe in Lagos, Nigeria then they are much more easily defrauded by criminals.

As far as I can tell these numbers aren’t really being used for any other purpose than to enable international online crimes to be committed. In some nine years of tracking Nigerian scam emails, I have yet to come across a single legitimate user of a +44 70 number. I really don’t understand why the British government has allowed those services to continue to operate.

Now, of course the service operators can claim that they don’t know that their services are being used for criminal purposes unless someone tells them about it. On the other hand, they are not exactly making it easy to report abuse and the high prices of these services means that it’s unlikely that they’ll get much legitimate use, if any.

There are several ways to curb abuse, other than suspending +44 70 numbers altogether and I would encourage the UK government to seriously consider them:

  • The UK regulators could make it a requirement that calls via this service either originate in the UK or terminate in the UK, i.e. to prevent unrestricted global relaying, with say calls from India or the US being forwarded to Nigeria or Côte d’Ivoire.
  • The UK regulators could require service providers to announce the country name of the phone number to which the call is being forwarded if the destination number is not a UK number.
  • The UK regulators could require service providers to block forwarding to mobile phone numbers in certain countries, e.g. Nigeria

Below is a sample list of +44 70 numbers that appeared in Nigerian scams reported to Scam-O-Matic over the course of the last seven days. These roughly 60 phone numbers per day are only the tip of the iceberg:

+447005801505
+447005802020
+447005810692
+447005934945
+447005942459
+447005963237
+447005977097
+447006001100
+447006002121
+447006002413
+447006029116
+447006062478
+447010023307
+447010027439
+447010027978
+447010027983
+447010028455
+447010030769
+447010285923
+447010306559
+447010476294
+447010786457
+447011120379
+447011120510
+447011120524
+447011121450
+447011121596
+447011128170
+447011129280
+447011129286
+447011129446
+447011130062
+447011130670
+447011130769
+447011131077
+447011131152
+447011133259
+447011140499
+447011140945
+447011140989
+447011146747
+447011146830
+447011147295
+447011149054
+447011152991
+447011153129
+447011162749
+447011163186
+447011163846
+447011164243
+447011182522
+447011183455
+447011184113
+447011196412
+447011197245
+447011197787
+447014225697
+447014232391
+447014232411
+447014232442
+447014236733
+447014244984
+447014275175
+447014275728
+447017026507
+447017430128
+447017769494
+447017848035
+447023011587
+447023056559
+447023058575
+447023069806
+447023086665
+447023087509
+447023092593
+447024010876
+447024010915
+447024011554
+447024012660
+447024013770
+447024014859
+447024016712
+447024017968
+447024018504
+447024018707
+447024018725
+447024018963
+447024019584
+447024019588
+447024021204
+447024021389
+447024023138
+447024023643
+447024024530
+447024024914
+447024024938
+447024025942
+447024028606
+447024029852
+447024032255
+447024033542
+447024034362
+447024034768
+447024035958
+447024036606
+447024037907
+447024038051
+447024038950
+447024041571
+447024041989
+447024042397
+447024043571
+447024045842
+447024046548
+447024047607
+447024047708
+447024051081
+447024051604
+447024053655
+447024054764
+447024056650
+447024056684
+447024057656
+447024057695
+447024059725
+447024061362
+447024061659
+447024061805
+447024062162
+447024063633
+447024063645
+447024064180
+447024065549
+447024066713
+447024066858
+447024067752
+447024068617
+447024069933
+447024070671
+447024071597
+447024071804
+447024071867
+447024072603
+447024072995
+447024073988
+447024074220
+447024074568
+447024074742
+447024075722
+447024075954
+447024077025
+447024078351
+447024079530
+447024079908
+447024080526
+447024080571
+447024080634
+447024082668
+447024082680
+447024082728
+447024083093
+447024083705
+447024084762
+447024084918
+447024084994
+447024086967
+447024087401
+447024087599
+447024087905
+447024091678
+447024091701
+447024091706
+447024092775
+447024092795
+447024092863
+447024095774
+447024095778
+447024095878
+447024096802
+447024096869
+447024097854
+447024098802
+447024098874
+447024099606
+447031740924
+447031742574
+447031744227
+447031744980
+447031744994
+447031745967
+447031746067
+447031746887
+447031747046
+447031747509
+447031749721
+447031801246
+447031801866
+447031803498
+447031803820
+447031808512
+447031809778
+447031814575
+447031814720
+447031815436
+447031816735
+447031818230
+447031821851
+447031822608
+447031823431
+447031824330
+447031825003
+447031826670
+447031830878
+447031833248
+447031833760
+447031834660
+447031835615
+447031835762
+447031837227
+447031843396
+447031844360
+447031845639
+447031846542
+447031850801
+447031851126
+447031855107
+447031855527
+447031858919
+447031859268
+447031859327
+447031859972
+447031861174
+447031861534
+447031865718
+447031877392
+447031877975
+447031880502
+447031885537
+447031890014
+447031891762
+447031894541
+447031898197
+447031903871
+447031906765
+447031908701
+447031909751
+447031911974
+447031913322
+447031915331
+447031918554
+447031918592
+447031918698
+447031918840
+447031920863
+447031928723
+447031930960
+447031931805
+447031934581
+447031938867
+447031940670
+4470319419882
+447031943771
+447031954666
+447031956661
+447031958680
+447031960513
+447031964131
+447031971731
+447031971766
+447031972833
+447031972850
+447031973785
+447031974969
+447031978795
+447031979858
+447031982694
+447031983660
+447031983882
+447031984862
+447031988864
+447031993596
+447031993967
+447031996818
+447032334576
+447035900183
+447035900344
+447035900914
+447035901588
+447035902188
+447035902683
+447035910276
+447035911140
+447035912873
+447035913994
+447035915768
+447035922616
+447035923742
+447035924448
+447035927916
+447035928180
+447035931142
+447035937446
+447035939194
+447035939320
+447035940617
+447035944729
+447035944779
+447035947431
+447035950853
+447035951254
+447035951405
+447035954295
+447035955376
+447035956312
+447035959966
+447035960942
+447035965038
+447035966176
+447035966188
+447035966289
+447035966480
+447035968588
+447035969249
+447035969496
+447035969754
+447035969801
+447035969823
+447035972572
+447035973164
+447035973821
+447035977317
+447035978042
+447035978343
+447035978550
+447035983963
+447035988651
+447035988847
+447035989086
+447035992118
+447035996148
+447035997215
+447035997533
+447035998886
+447035999080
+447040110515
+447041743214
+447045702581
+447045704323
+447045704570
+447045705126
+447045705374
+447045706975
+447045707234
+447045707660
+447045708253
+447045709129
+447045709292
+447045710531
+447045710917
+447045711325
+447045712243
+447045712434
+447045712662
+447045712816
+447045712993
+447045713815
+447045714219
+447045719541
+447045720546
+447045721125
+447045721617
+447045722125
+447045724094
+447045725176
+447045727388
+447045729804
+447045733035
+447045733518
+447045736862
+447045742669
+447045743467
+447045747569
+447045748609
+447045754338
+447045759317
+447045767521
+447045768060
+447045770961
+447045776356
+447045780693
+447045782120
+447045783777
+447045785147
+447045785239
+447045790181
+447045791709
+447045795051
+447045798638
+447045799030
+447053491702
+447053492393
+447075158182
+447092849621
+447092861761
+447092864823
+447092980578
+447092981646
+447092981769
+447092982175

887 thoughts on “Dial +44 70 (UK number) for international online fraud

  1. JJ, you asked:
    > Hi! What if the number that starts with +4470 redirected you
    > to a person in UK? Is it still a scam

    The whole point of +4470 numbers is that you can reach someone under a UK
    number who is not in the UK.

    For example, if they were using a UK geographic number such as a +44 20x
    London number, they could directly give you that number to call and it would
    be cheaper for you.

    In the 14 years that I’ve been dealing with online fraud I only heard of a
    single case of a legitimate users of a +44 70 number and that particular
    user did not claim to be in the UK.

    So as a rule of thumb, if someone uses a +4470 number and claims to be in
    the UK, you can assume it to be a scam.

  2. Dears,
    My friend also received a email from some gmail account for a Job in UK. and this email mention this phone number +44 70 42071980

  3. Hi,
    I have got an email from named “Justice Godson” who is expressed himself as a Recruitment agent. He shared a number +447031954292. I would like to know is this number fake?

  4. I have also received a request by email to contact +44703191802. I believe it is the same scammer that previously tried to get money out of me under an obviously stolen false identity…and he is still posing as Chris Bar, a Vet Doctor from Atlanta GA…visiting UK

  5. can you tel this following number whos this ?

    +44 20 3322 2158

  6. Hi,
    I belongs to very poor family .A person sent me a text that he is from UK PEPSI COMPANYand want to help by sending some money I felt happy to know that someone is going to help .than he asked for money first .he said send me GBPs200 in return I’ll send you 50.00.00.00 Great British Pounds. I sent him the amonyt but he didn’t sent me back . now my marriage has been canceled due to lake of money .He cheated me God will ask him about Thi fruad in sha Allah

  7. +447024033055 is this numver from uk he said he was livung innhoustin texas i dial the number its MTN number he was engineer in oil and gas company

  8. Hi :
    Can you help me to found this
    number44 7415 072996 is it real.I want to buy medical for this company.

  9. +44 7752 750699 it is a scammer. Pretend work as oil n gas lead consulting engineer at ramboll and stay at bedford uk. Wanted to send gifts to cyberfriend even just knowing less than a mth where at the end ask the victim to pay few hundred dollars tax for the air courier when the parcel reaching the victim’s country. They use fake fb with fake pict. You can ask for the audio call and you can hear a Nigerian voice and slang. Try to do facetime, definitely he wont as the pict in fb differ fr actual

  10. Hello, Joe…I need your help…..I found this page and i decided write to you. I ‘ll
    wait your replay. Thank you

  11. Elsy,

    If your question was about a +4470 phone number then the simple answer is, “yes, it’s a scam!” If it involves a lot of money and someone you only know via the internet then the answer is the same. Copy and paste any suspicious email messages (entire message text) into the form at https://scamomatic.com and you’ll get an instant response.

  12. Sam,
    It’s quite simple: If they use a +4470 number and they claim to be in the UK then you can be sure it’s a scam.

  13. Hi this is urgent.
    I’ve been talking to this guy who claims he’s from the UK. His number is +447935688372
    I’ve paid the duty fee and handling charges amount and now I have to pay another big amount.
    Is this person real?
    He goes as the name Nityanand Kumar.

  14. +4479 numbers are UK mobile numbers. As such they can be used with global roaming. There is no guarantee that this person is actually in the UK, any more than the name they gave you is correct. You don’t say who this person claims to be, but no immigration official or travel agent would have you call a mobile number to reach them. What makes this almost certain to be a scam is the money they demand, especially the increasing amounts. Any payment sent by Western Union or Moneygram is suspect because these means of payment offer no protection whatsoever to the sender.

    You can quickly verify or report any suspicious email online. Simply copy and paste the entire text of that email message into the “Scam-O-Matic” webform to get instant advice about it:

    https://www.scamomatic.com

  15. Hi,

    Today a not Britisch accent lady called me with this number ‭+44 70 0407 138. Becareful everyone!

  16. Hi I like to find out these two numbers in nature whether it’s scammer. Thanks

    +447537130660

    +447448475739

  17. Please note that mob no starts by
    4477/4475/4473….are also Scammer’s numbers.

  18. Hi, I would like find out this number in nature whether is scammer

    +44 7543 000144

  19. I’m in New Zealand, I keep getting phone calls from 44703 & 44704. Thanks to your info above. As an ex telephone tech I recognise their area codes so I ask them what country they are trying to sell me something from. I then tell them they are liars, to p**s off with their phoney sales pitch then hang up.

  20. I have received job offer from this number +44 752 067 2337/
    +44 703 196 3646 .I would like to find out in nature whether is scammer

  21. Holly cow!

    Read the post and do your research yourself. It’s not that hard to comprehend!

    It will take less time for you to do, than writing to ask Joe to do it for you.

    Christ!!!

  22. How are you doing today honey? i hope great. Send me your personal details, your full name,your full house address and your mobile or contact number that i will use to send you the package gift to Malaysia. hope to hear from you soon. This is my mobile number again if you wish to confirm any thing from me about the gift call me on +447031955447, please my dear try your best to be very honest with me. I want you to help me get the house that i will buy, i will be coming to Malaysia soon. As for the house i want a landed property,a double storey building with at least three bedrooms, a sitting room and a very good car park at a very comfortable location in Malaysia. Hope to hear from you soon,if there is any thing you wish i should add to the gift for you just inform me in your next email to me…..i will be expecting the details which i requires from you to enable me to send the gift ……By the way what is your shoe size and shirt size?…Just send me the information below:

    FULL NAME:
    FULL ADDRESS:
    HAND PHONE NUMBERS:
    Email:

    Hugs and kisses baby

    I received this email with number help me to find out scam?

    Her email id
    wongeve501@gmail.com

  23. If it lists a 4470 phone number and the email sender claims to be in the UK then it’s a scam, which this one definitely is.

  24. Rosemary,

    +447537130660 is a scammer’s number. He has his profile in tinder as David with an asian picture.
    He introduced himself as David Ching,an architect of his company G-Blossom Consults Limited(his linkedin) with 62 contract staff. by the way there is no such company if u check the company registration in uk.
    A sweet talker on text which i believe everything he wrote was scripted professionally. In the end he told a sob story of losing everything on his business trip and ask u to send money. I am sure the asian face is part of the syndicate hired to just take photos as a successful businessman on dating apps but the actual person chatting might not be him becos he refused to voice call nor do a video call. Catfishing as we call that.

  25. hi!can i ask if this number +447459035865 is a scammer…i need your help asap…thanks!

  26. Gladys, if you have reason to ask, the answer is probably “yes”! Anytime somebody who you only know via the Internet and who you have only communicated with by email or mobile phone asks you to send money abroad, all your alarm bells should ring!

  27. Hello,
    I’ve received a call from a number in the United Kingdom and would kindly like to know if it’s among the fake ones. The number is 441157070400

  28. URGENT does anyone recognize the name BENJAMIN DAVIDS in Aberdeen, Scotland plz? Scammer. Scam story about Malaysia. Taken huge sums all over the USA and UK. Contacts you on Fb and messenger

    447513168871 anyone recognize this in uk/

  29. Best of my luck..I felt so strange so i tried to search this number +44 7716 114246 and I found this page…this is my story and i think that this is scammer.

    One day, i was texted by one guy in fb messenger and told me his name as Muhammad Mustafa Azrul from UK (West Ham). He was single father for 3 years and his wife passed away in an accident. He was introduced himself as CEO of his late father’s company…He is an engineer. He sent me his picture with his daughter….like an asian man (picture). I have tried to search about his name in google, but i didn’t found any info about himself from the details like he told me. He keeps asking me about my job n my salary…start from that i tried to search more info about his name,his number etc…

    Can you please help me about this number +44 7716 114246…thanks for your help. Sorry for all my mistakes in my english…hope you understand my words.

  30. I had a problem with a number that starts with +44. I had a relationship with a man during about one month ,and last week I was victim of a scammer and lost money. It was a painful situation..nobody deserves that. It won´t happen again with me.

  31. My husband got many phone calls from these numbers (i.e. +442200466870; +442203697853; +442204459267; +442200514036; ….). Please help us with that. are they all scammers. I picked up the phone one time, they said something they came from South Africa, but it was very noisy and I couldn’t hear properly. To be honest we don’t have any relationship in UK. thanks We are looking for your reply, thanks

  32. Huong, I can’t find any information about +44220 numbers. It doesn’t even show as an active area code. Do you mean +4420 instead?

  33. I’m having same problem – unsolicited calls from +44 22 0… I’ve checked Offcom website and don’t understand how is it possible that the call is coming from area code 22 – as this seem not to be active. Any ideas what is going on?

  34. Hi
    I’m recieving some call from uk and even my own cointry code that r asking me to invest on oil and such these things. I asked them how could find my phone number and some of them told me that I have registerd at their online platform.But they didn’t say their online platform’s name. How can I remove my name from their online platform?

  35. We are major/Direct providers of Fresh Cut BG, SBLC,
    MTN and this financial instruments are specifically for
    lease and sale.We are one of the leading Financial instrument providers
    with offices all over Europe.
    we always deliver on time and precision as Set forth in the agreement. You
    are at liberty to engage our leased facilities into trade programs, project
    financing, Credit line enhancement, Corporate Loans (Business Start-up
    Loans or Business Expansion Loans), Equipment Procurement Loans (Industrial
    Equipment, Air crafts, Ships, etc.) as well as other financial instruments
    issued from AAA Rated bank such as HSBC Bank Hong Kong, HSBC Bank London,
    Deutsche Bank AG Frankfurt, Barclays Bank , Standard Chartered Bank and
    others on lease at the lowest available rates depending on the face value
    of the instrument needed, Our Terms and Conditions are reasonable.
    DESCRIPTION OF INSTRUMENTS:
    1. Instrument: Bank Guarantee (BG)/SBLC (Appendix A)
    2. Total Face Value: 1M MIN to 50B MAX USD or Euro
    3. Issuing Bank: HSBC, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt, UBS or any Top 25 .
    4. Age: One Year, One Day
    5. Leasing Price: 4+ 2%
    6. Sale Price: 32+2%
    7. Delivery by SWIFT .
    8. Payment: MT103
    9. Hard Copy: Bonded Courier within 7 banking days.
    If you have need for Corporate loans, International project funding, etc.
    or if you have a client that requires funding for his project or business,
    We are also affiliated with lenders who specialize on funding against
    financial instruments, such as BG, SBLC or MTN, we fund 100% of the
    face value of the financial instrument.
    Inquiries from agents/ brokers/ intermediaries are also welcomed; do get
    back to us if you are interested in any of our services and for quality
    service.
    Name : Dawson Harry
    E-mail : limited.inquire.dawsonharry@gmail.com
    Skype id : limited.inquire.dawsonharry@gmail.com

  36. Hi Joe

    I have a friend that wishes to open a HSBC account in the UK
    But him being not a UK citizen they have ask for 65,000 Pound Sterling to open this account . So the e mail that was sent had an address in London at the main building of HSBC London where my friend took a plain to see if he could meet him see if he was working there or not.
    There answer was , “No body in that name works here they said to him.the address appeared with the address that was send to him.
    So today I did cal this number +442070601138 and spoke to the person Andy Maguire and to my surprize I spoke to a gentleman with an African ascent .
    And he told me that what he was opening was an offshore account . Well I have no problem with that , but being now I have seen your web page and seen some numbers here , even that is not related , may be they may have got a new number out there some how again to scam people
    SO
    I hope to get to the bottom of this and will tell you more .If it is a scam I will post to you again , but if you were to know or find anything out before I do I would be most grateful and let readers all so know that these people are for real or are just out to get you money .

  37. Colin, this all sounds very suspicious, starting from the huge minimum deposit (if that’s what it is). Did any of the emails your friend was replying to end in @hsbc.com or where they free webmail addresses (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo) or some odd domain not really owned by HSBC, such as “hsbcprionline[.]com”, which anybody can create for less than $10. Asking if a person by the name the scammer uses works at the bank is no sure way of protecting oneself. True, if no person by that name works at the bank then it can’t possibly be genuine. But if a person by that name actually for the bank it could still be a scam. Scammers routinely look up bank websites for names of bank officers and even provide links to such pages in scam emails to support their credibility. Without a way of verifying that the person is who he claims to be, this really offers no protection. So one needs to be able to verify that people really work for the bank by communicating only with email addresses of domains actually owned by the bank or using phone numbers and fax numbers published on the actual website of the bank (not some lookalike website or listed only in emails sent by the scammers).

  38. Please help me to find out who the name of the owner of the mobile number +447999592802 and the original identity is also the residence now. He has cheated my money worth 10 million rupiah Indonesian. Thanks

  39. Hi Joe,

    Can help to check for this no +44 7752 652283.
    I want to know the location of this no.

    Thanks.

  40. Grace,

    +44 7752 652283 is a mobile number so the caller could be based in any country where there are mobile phone networks that offer roaming. They might be in the UK, or they might be in Nigeria or Malaysia – there’s no way to know. That’s why you should never send money to someone you only know online and who you have only communicated with by mobile phone or email. If it turns out to be a scam, you have no way to trace their location.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *