The Department of Telecommunications, under the Ministry of Communications has advised citizens against a call-forwarding scam of incoming calls which can be used for fraud.

The scammers ask victims to dial *401# followed by some unknown mobile number, which diverts calls to that number and can be used for committing cyber frauds, as per the official communique. 

In a step-by-step process, the communique explained how a fraudster will call the telecom subscribers, pretending to be a customer service representative or technical support staff from their telecom service provider.

The fraudster then states that there is a problem with their SIM card, or some issue related to network or service quality. 

The subscriber is asked to dial a specific code to fix the problem, which usually starts with ‘*401#’ followed by a mobile number.

Unconditional call forwarding is activated on the mobile number fed after the code as part of the scam.

The DoT said that telecom service providers never ask their subscribers to dial ‘*401#’, advising citizens to check their mobile phone settings for call forwarding.

The advisory also asked users to disable call forwarding immediately in case call forwarding has been enabled by way of dialling ‘*401#, and use the facility otherwise as well sparingly.

The Ministry of Communications is helmed by Ashwini Vaishnaw, who also helms the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity). India's telecom providers include Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea.