Overview

• Recent reports describe a spike in international missed calls and messages targeting Mexico and Latin America, with frequent U.S. and Canadian area codes and additional traffic from the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa.
• Fraud tactics include the wangiri one‑ring method that baits callbacks to premium or international numbers, often masked by caller‑ID spoofing that makes calls appear local.
• A parallel scheme impersonates recruiters, shifting conversations to WhatsApp, email, or Telegram and seeking “activation” payments after automated messages claim a résumé was received.
• Mexico’s Policía Cibernética urges users not to return unknown calls, to block and report suspicious numbers, and to contact banks and prosecutors if money was sent, while ESET and Kaspersky classify the activity as vishing.
• The FCC has documented related scams such as the One Ring and Mexico Collect Call schemes, CBP has warned about spoofed government numbers, and specialists refute claims linking the surge to the National Drill’s cell‑broadcast alert system.