Getting a Call From a +51 Number? Here's Where It's Coming From

The prefix +51 is the country code of Peru. As with all unfamiliar international numbers, if you're getting a call from a number starting with these digits but don't know the person or aren't at all expecting contact from anyone in Peru, you might be getting an advertising call or even an attempted scam call.

As we'll see in this short guide, we recommend being cautious of unexpected calls or messages, regardless of their origin. After all, scammers are becoming increasingly creative these days, and not being aware of their tricks can make it all the easier for someone to take advantage of you.

Why a +51 Number Might Be Calling

We already mentioned scams up front. But this doesn't mean you should jump to bad conclusions right away.

Before we look more at scam and spam calls in the next section, you should consider whether you think it's possible an unknown number from Peru might be calling you for a legitimate reason. Let's go through the most likely ones below:

Possibility 1: Business

This one's simple. If you or your company have recently been doing business with a company in Peru, then the +51 number that's calling is probably a business call.

Possibility 2: Recruitment

Have you applied for any jobs in Peru, or signed up for offers with a recruitment agency there? Is it possible that someone might be trying to headhunt you? If yes, then you could be getting a call from a recruiter.

Possibility 3: Financial/Legal Matters

Are there any bank accounts, investments, or trusts held in Peru in your name? Could you perhaps be subject, in one way or another, to Peru's tax system? This could very well mean that you're getting a call from a financial or tax rep or even a government official.

Possibility 4: Travel

If you’ve recently traveled to Peru or made plans through an travel agency to go there soon, the call could be related to a booking issue or other urgent information regarding your trip. This isn't too common, since in these cases, most communication should happen via your travel agent, but it's also neither impossible nor unheard of.

Possibility 5: Shipping/Deliveries

While this is less common (most information relating to shipping or delivery is facilitated online or via the e-commerce platforms), if you're expecting a shipment, parcel, or delivery from Peru, then it's possible you could be getting a customs call or an urgent update.

Possibility 6: A Mistake

It's often said that to err is human. Don't underestimate the chance that someone simply misdialed you. Also, due to the practice of phone number recycling, it's not impossible that a previous owner of your phone number once had dealings in Peru.

With that out the way, let's move on to the unfortunately all-too-common other reason why you might be receiving a call from a Peruvian phone number:

Possible Scams Starting With +51

Unfortunately, scam calls are widespread these days. According to one recent study, scammers have begun increasingly using social engineering tactics and advanced scripts to dupe their victims into believing they're real, making it harder than ever to tell if your call is genuine or not.

Sadly, the volume of spam calls is only getting worse and worse. According to Truecaller's Monthly U.S. Spam and Scam Report for 2023, around 2.1 billion spam calls are made to US phones every month, with the average American receiving eight fraudulent calls per month.

All of this is truly horrendous. And it should therefore go without saying that, as a general rule, you should remain careful when receiving calls, WhatsApps, or texts from unknown numbers. This applies to foreign telephone numbers with a +51 country code just as much as it does to local numbers. And even though calls or messages from telephone numbers with a Peruvian dialing code might not always be a fraud attempt, you should always assume that they are if you have no connections to the country.

Below, we've listed a few of the most popular types of scam calls:

Scam 1: Advance Fee Fraud

In an advance fee scam, someone calls you and tells you you're in line to receive a large sum of money. It all sounds so convincing. Maybe a rich distant relative has died, maybe you've won a cash prize, or maybe you're eligible for a government welfare payment. However, before you can receive the money, you're asked first to pay a fee or advance payment, which you must transfer quickly to unblock the larger sum you're owed. However, as you might've guessed, nothing is owed to you, and this was all a ploy to steal your money.

Scam 2: Ping/One-Ring Calls

Ping calls are fraudulent phone calls that only ring briefly before being hung up. Here, you might feel tempted to call back out of curiosity or fear of missing an important call. If you do call back, high charges for international calling may follow, resulting in soaring costs on your phone bill. While scammers often use this trick to test the validity of your phone number for future scams, it's often done purely out of malice or just to annoy you.

Scam 3: Fake Job Offers

If you receive a call for a job you didn't apply for, you're probably receiving a fake job offer. Here, you'll be offered an attractive position and salary, but you'll be asked to provide your personal information or even pay for your training, equipment, or visa applications. However, these scams will ultimately leave you without money and without a job.

Scam 4: Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks are widespread and involve sending fake emails or text messages pretending to come from a trusted source, often a bank, delivery service, or insurance company. These messages often contain links to fake websites where you'll be tricked into revealing personal details such as passwords or credit card information. These fake websites can often look very elaborate and accurate, making it easy to be fooled.

Scam 5: Romance Scams

As the name suggests, romance scams involve a fake romantic relationship. The scammer gains their victim's trust with the sole intention of extorting money by pretending to be in a difficult situation and needing financial help. Although it might sound obvious to spot, scammers will often be very persuasive, building your trust over a long period of time and having an elaborate (albeit fake) life story and attractive pictures. In extreme cases, the scammer will even take you on real dates in person and show off their apparent wealth long before asking you for any money.

Scam 6: Technical Support Scam

Here, fraudsters pretend to be employees of a technology company or an IT support service and call you claiming to want to help fix alleged problems with your computer or device. Step by step, they'll ask you unwittingly to grant them remote access to your computer, where they'll proceed to steal your personal data or install malware.

Scam 7: Police Fraud Scams

You're called by the police. They explain that you (or often a close relative of yours) are about to be arrested for a crime. The only way to escape being thrown into jail is to pay a bail or court fee in advance. They arrange to meet you in a public area to accept the cash (where they'll be dressed as cops), or, preferably, they'll receive the payment as a bank transfer or as a digital payment. The problem is, none of this is real, and the 'police' were merely professional scammers impersonating police officers.

What Do Scammers Want?

At the end of the day, no matter whether you're approached by scammers using a +51 number or a local one, the people behind it are after one thing: money.

However, to steal your money, scammers often find it easier to achieve other things first, like building your trust, establishing whether you're a suitable target, understanding your habits, etc. Here are a few secondary goals scammers might want from you that might not be so obvious:

• Financial data (e.g. credit card numbers, bank account details, etc.),
• Personal data (e.g. full name, date of birth, address, etc.),
• Login credentials (e.g. usernames, passwords, security question answers, etc.),
• Learning about your habits and preferences (e.g. interests, hobbies, internet browsing history, etc.),
• Health data (e.g. medical history, health insurance details, prescription information, etc.),
• Determining how easy a target you are (e.g. scammers might start with simple scams like ping calls to test whether your number works and if you call back, etc.)
• Building your trust.

How to Protect Yourself From Scam Calls

If you're feeling sure that you don't know anyone in Peru who might want to contact you with a legitimate request, you should be aware of your options.

Option 1: Ignore

If you're just being called or texted from an unknown telephone number with a +51 country code, you can ignore it for the time being. It may turn out that someone is contacting you legitimately and that you lack the context to categorize the message or call. However, it's important that you don't engage. Don't open attachments that you receive via WhatsApp or other messengers from an unknown telephone number Peru and all unfamiliar international numbers. The risk of downloading a virus onto your phone is high.

Option 2: Block

If you receive regular calls or messages from an unknown phone number with or without a +51 country code, you should block it. WhatsApp contacts can be blocked directly via the WhatsApp app, and you can block regular calls via your ‘Phone’ app too. (The steps required for this vary depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android, but blocking contacts is generally easy on all smartphones.)

Option 3: Report

Are you regularly terrorized by scam calls, or have you fallen victim to one? Then you should report the telephone number to the relevant authority in your country. Although the authorities cannot always do something directly to prevent this, especially in the case of foreign numbers with +51 prefixes or other dialing codes, your report can initiate or support an investigation.

Below are a few official resources for reporting scams in various countries which would be a good place to start:

Numbers used by known fraudsters are also published on plenty of websites online. If you've received an unknown call or message from Peru or any unfamiliar international number, you should check the telephone number against online lists, which you can normally do simply by typing the full phone number (including the +51 prefix) directly into Google.

Option 4: Use a Cybersecurity App

Unfortunately, the internet is lawless, and scams are all too common. This largely stems from shady companies which collect, aggregate, and trade your personal data without you knowing anything about it. Cybercriminals make use of these sites to find and target your data.

If you'd like to go the extra mile to protect your online security, you can consider paying for a subscription to a trusted privacy service. There are many options out there, but based on reliability, trustworthiness, affordability, and customer satisfaction, the following two stand out in particular:

Aura: Great For All-In-One Online Safety

Aura is truly a very robust solution for online privacy. Buying a subscription gets you the following things all bundled into one app:

• Identity theft protection,
• Up to $2,000,000 in identity theft insurance,
• 3-bureau credit monitoring,
• Instant credit lock,
• Home and auto title monitoring,
• Financial transaction alerts,
• Antivirus,
• VPN,
• Password manager,
• People search sites and spam lists removal,
• Expert fraud remediation (in the US only).

It's a bit more premium (and thus expensive - around $20 per member per month) than Incogni is, but you get pretty much everything Incogni gives you plus a lot more. All of this makes Aura perfect if you're not just interested in removing your number from the web, but taking all aspects of your online security into your hands.

Incogni: Great For Removing Your Data From The Web

Incogni is a popular platform for protecting your online anonymity. Where Aura is an online security generalist, Incogni is a specialist, focusing only on removing your personal information from the web, and doing it well. The way it works is simple and transparent:

What's the result? A reduction or complete elimination of things like:

• spam calls and emails,
• threats of identity theft,
• other online scams and invasions of privacy.

Plans are priced at a reasonable rate of around $160 per year or $13 per month, but with our exclusive link below, you can get 50% off your first purchase with a 30-day money-back guarantee (this offer is available to US, UK, EU, Swiss, and Canadian residents only).

Yesim: Great For Getting a Virtual Number

If you're not looking for a full-on privacy protection solution, you could consider just getting a virtual number. This much cheaper solution will protect your real mobile phone number (which you can just use for private calls) while you use your virtual number for signups and account logins (which can receive SMS but cannot be used to receive phone calls, so you won't be bothered by spam calls at all, even if this number gets swapped and traded on the dark web).

There are a few virtual number providers out there, but we like Yesim in particular. For just $3 per number per month, you can get your very own American (+1), Dutch (+31), Canadian (+1), or Israeli (+972) virtual number to use on apps and sites like WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok, and all other sites with user accounts.

What If It's a Genuine Call?

Let's assume you received one or two phone calls from a +51 number which you missed or ignored, believing them to be scam calls. Later, it might turn out that those calls were, in fact, perfectly genuine all along, like we discussed earlier. You might find this out if the caller emails you or otherwise manages to reach you with a legitimate request, or you suddenly remember why someone in Peru might be trying to get hold of you, for example.

In these cases, you probably want to call them back.

However, as you probably know, making an international call can be shockingly expensive. If you'd like to get in touch with your Peruvian contact affordably, you basically have three options:

1. VoIP calls: Using free apps that connect to WiFi, like WhatsApp, Google Meet, Skype, Telegram, Messenger, or FaceTime.
2. International calling app: Using a low-cost-per-minute calling app to connect via regular mobile phone, like Rebtel, Boss Revolution, and Yolla. We like Rebtel in particular, whose excellent rates and market-leading platform make it a great choice for cheaply calling Peru from abroad.
3. Other means of communication: This could be by email, WhatsApp, or even old-fashioned snail mail. (Consider carefully before sending a text, though, since, like calls, they're also expensive when made internationally.)