管机构正在调查有关“自动语音电话”的投诉激增现象。这类电话通常由预先录制的语音提示接听者添加对方为WhatsApp好友，据怀疑此类电话与招聘诈骗有关。
The UK's data watchdog is investigating a spike in complaints about "robo calls" - where a recorded voice asks you to add them on WhatsApp - that are suspected to lead to a recruitment scam.
英国信息委员会办公室（ICO）称，9月份共收到超过3600起关于自动语音电话的投诉，这一数字创下五年来的新高，几乎是7月份投诉量的三倍。
The Information Commission's Office (ICO) had more than 3,600 complaints about automated calls in September - a five-year high and nearly three times the number it had in July.
不过该机构推测实际上有数百万人都接到了此类电话。ICO对BBC广播四台的《You and Yours》节目表示，对投诉量的急剧上升“深感担忧”。
But it suspects millions of people are getting these calls and told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours it was "deeply concerned" by the sharp rise.
ICO建议民众对来自陌生号码的来电不予理会，并主动屏蔽及向监管机构举报任何可疑电话。
The ICO advises people to ignore calls from numbers they don't recognise, and to block and report any suspicious calls to the watchdog.
这些自动语音电话通常显示来电号码为英国本地手机号。部分录音内容还提及提供兼职工作的机会。
The automated calls typically come from what appears to be a UK mobile number. Some of the recorded messages mention an offer of part-time work.
致力于打击电信诈骗的通信行业组织“通信犯罪战略小组”的西蒙·费尔指出，由于尚未对这些语音信息做进一步调查，目前尚无法确定诈骗的具体形式。
Simon Fell, from the Communications Crime Strategy Group, a telecoms industry body set up to tackle fraud, said he couldn't be sure exactly what form the scam would take as he hadn't followed up on the messages.
“极有可能这是一起招聘诈骗，”他说道，“诈骗分子可能会引导受害者访问虚假的招聘页面，其中可能涉及洗钱活动。这些工作看似完全合法甚至只是临时性工作，但实际上诈骗分子会利用受害者的账户转移非法资金，从而带来严重后果。”
"Mostly likely it would be a recruitment scam," he said. "They would either put you through to a fake job listing, which might involve some form of money muling. It could look like a completely legitimate job, or something ad hoc, but they might pass criminal funds through your account which can lead to terrible consequences.
“这也可能只是单纯的网络钓鱼手段——犯罪分子发送这些信息的目的就是筛选出活跃用户，相关信息随后会被转卖至暗网。”
"It could also be a simple phishing exercise - criminals send out these messages, and what they really want to know is who's picking up, who's active - that information can be resold on the dark web. "The possibilities are endless.
“诈骗手段层出不穷。归根结底，这是犯罪分子在试图以各种方式实施诈骗。”
At the end of the day this is a criminal that has reached out to you and they're trying to defraud you in some way shape or form."
ICO刑事调查部门负责人安迪·库里向BBC透露，他判断这些电话很可能来自境外。
Andy Curry, the ICO's head of criminal investigations, told the BBC he believed the calls were coming from abroad.
“我们正在努力查明幕后黑手、作案动机以及此类行为对公众造成的影响，”他说道。
"We are trying to find who is behind this, why they're doing it and the impact it's having on members of the public," he said.
他表示，向英国信息专员办公室投诉的案例数量，其实只是所有受害者的冰山一角。
The number of complaints received by the ICO would only be a small proportion of the totals affected, he said.
“我们认为，可能有数百万人收到了这些信息，这些信息看起来是毫无针对性地群发给大众的。”
"We think there are probably millions of people who are receiving these messages, which appear to us to be largely indiscriminate.
“我自己就收到过，负责此次调查的同事也收到过。这很可能只是冰山一角罢了。”费尔指出，移动运营商正在“多方面努力”以应对大量自动拨入电话的问题。
"I've had them, my colleague who's leading the investigation has had them. It's likely to be tip of the iceberg." Fell said that mobile companies were "working on a range of fronts" to tackle the influx of automated calls.
这些措施包括向监管机构Ofcom提交相关情报报告、与执法部门合作，以及与拥有WhatsApp的Meta公司保持联络。因为如果有人按照指示将号码添加到这个加密通讯平台中，“那么此后你与犯罪分子之间的任何对话都将无法再被调查”。
This includes sending intelligence reports to the regulator Ofcom, working with law enforcement, and liaising with Meta, which owns WhatsApp, because if someone does follow up on the request to add the number to the encrypted platform, "any dialogue that happens between you and the criminal then can't be investigated any further".
WhatsApp的一位发言人称，平台设有多项功能来保护用户免受诈骗电话骚扰，比如屏蔽来自未知号码的来电。他还表示，每年都有数百万个账号因“恶意行为”而被封禁，比如批量注册账号或自动发送信息。
A WhatsApp spokesman said there were features in place to protect its users from scam calls, including silencing calls from unknown numbers. He also said WhatsApp banned millions of accounts each year for "malicious behaviours", such as bulk account registration or automated messaging.
虽然这些电话显示的来电号码通常来自英国的手机号码，但费尔指出，这些号码其实是诈骗分子伪造或冒充的。去年11月，英国政府承诺将在一年内杜绝电话伪造现象。
While these calls typically appear to be from a UK mobile number, Fell said these numbers will be imitated, or spoofed, by the criminals behind the scam. Last November, the UK government promised that call spoofing would be eliminated within a year.
英国内政部的一位发言人称，政府正在采取“强有力的措施”来打击各类诈骗行为。
A Home Office spokesman said the government was taking "robust action" to tackle scams.
他补充道：“我们仍致力于与业界携手，在11月前落实《电信宪章》。”
"We remain committed to delivering the Telecommunications Charter, alongside industry, by November," he added.