India's cybersecurity landscape faces a critical new threat a shockingly simple phone scam that requires no technical sophistication from fraudsters yet bypasses nearly all modern digital security measures. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has issued an urgent nationwide alert about a social engineering attack that uses fundamental telecom features to hijack victims' financial lives. Unlike phishing or malware, this scam exploits the trusted USSD protocol, making every mobile user from smartphone owners to basic feature phone users equally vulnerable. This is where the technical deception occurs. The provided code isn't a verification string but a USSD command activating unconditional call forwarding. Typically formatted as *21*[Scammer's Phone Number] #, this sequence when dialled and pressed call silently reroutes all incoming calls to the fraudster's device. The victim might hear a standard confirmation tone or see a "service activated...
I am a technology writer with a focus on cybersecurity. I cover topics such as malware, vulnerabilities, exploits, and security defenses, as well as research and innovation in information security.