How do you recognise a scam phone call?

There is one reliable test: are they asking for something secret? No genuine institution ever asks for a PIN, an OTP, a password or a verification code over the phone. If someone does, the call is over — no further test is needed.

• Manufactured urgency — “your SIM will be blocked unless you act now”, “within ten minutes”.
• Fear — threats of a case, a fine or your account being closed.
• A prize — a lottery, a gift or a sudden bonus.
• Being told to dial a code, especially one starting with a star.

Being told to dial a code is especially dangerous and its seriousness is widely underestimated. Some codes switch on call forwarding — after which your calls and messages go to the fraudster, and they no longer need to ask for an OTP because it reaches them anyway.

When in doubt the response is simple: hang up, then call the institution yourself on its official number — taken from its official website, its app or the back of your card, never from the caller. Almost every scam collapses at that single step.