Nepal Telecom (NTC) has requested users to report if they receive illegal international calls showing Nepali numbers. Suspecting the possibility of (Voice over Internet Protocol) VoIP-related calls, the company issued a notice to its subscribers via SMS and social media pages.

VoIP call bypass is an illegal activity in Nepal. The Supreme Court has deemed call bypass a serious offense and subject to punishment. However, the company suspects the frequency of such calls has increased again in recent days.

With a call bypass, the rogue caller fakes international calls as if they are coming from within the country itself. In a technical term, it involves diverting international calls from the authorized and official gateway of legitimate mobile network operators which frames international calls as local. This mostly involves the use of “VoIP” technology. As a result, the call rates become cheaper. This is the reason, many resort to such calls. However, doing this violates the prevalent law of Nepal. It also impacts the telecom companies’ revenue and the government. Plus, it poses various security threats to those who sign up for call bypass to connect with their family and friends. Also to tell, call quality in a call bypass call is subpar.

Check out: What is a SIM Swap Scam and What You Can Do to Prevent it?

How to identify illegal international calls in Ntc?

If you get an international call to your home telephone or mobile and it shows the local Ntc number, then it is for sure an illegal call. The calls are routed or bypassed from the usual call routes using different methods like VoIP, which will not provide any sort of revenue or tax to the country. The quality of such calls is not even consistent.

Apart from Ntc or local numbers, you can even get calls from Private numbers or unrealistic numbers. Ntc recently informed the public of fake calls for the lottery win. Ntc has also found such calls to have used illegal routes. As it is necessary to prevent or control such illegal activities, Ntc has asked for people’s help in this regard.

Check out: How to Activate International Roaming in Ntc, Learn Here!

Illegal calls remain a challenge for Nepali service providers

Receiving international calls has not always been problem-free for telecom companies in Nepal. On many occasions, Ntc has had to warn and request its users to be cautious of rogue calls. For e.g., the company earlier requested users to inform it of illegal calls. Additionally, there are cases of people being caught for operating call bypasses from Nepal. Also read: Ntc warns of receiving calls from some fraud numbers

Call bypass is an unlawful act and is not secure for anyone. So, it remains to be one of the challenges of operators in Nepal. At the same time, there is a possibility of a fine and prison term of up to five years. So, everyone needs to be aware of it and not engage in such an activity.

How to inform Ntc of the illegal international calls?

If you have encountered such calls, a responsible citizen must inform the operator.

To help them control those activities, you can contact Ntc at 188 and give the number of the illegal international calls.

Ntc says the calls made to this number will be free of charge. So, customers can inform this number without any cost.

Check out: Ntc customer call numbers for complain and inquiry

Here’s NTC’s notice on receiving bypass calls:

Have you ever received any illegal international calls or, VoIP/bypass calls? How did you respond to it at the time? Do share with us in our comment section below.