=> ISLAMABAD: Unsolicited callers continue to trap mo
ISLAMABAD: Unsolicited callers continue to trap mobile subscribers with offers of fake cash prizes to make money through the swindling game.
PTA Chairman Shahzada Alam acknowledged that some swindlers were engaged in the illegal practice and said it had cautioned people against it. Many mobile users receive calls daily from shady persons who introduce themselves as an official of some cellular company and inform that they have won prizes of million of rupees.
These callers urge the mobile users to buy scratch cards and notify coded numbers to them to obtain their cash prize. Nasir Shahzad, a resident of Rawalpindi, said he received a call from a person who told him that he had won a prize of one million rupees.
“I sent him the coded numbers of scratch cards worth three thousand rupees, but after that he did not call me and all my attempts to contact the person by phone failed,” he said. Romana Ambreen, an employee at a multi-national company, said when she received a call informing her that she had won a prize worth two million rupees, she immediately bought scratch cards and sent coded numbers to the given number.
“The caller told me to talk to a person Habib Beg, which he introduced as Managing Director of a leading cellular company. I talked to him and he assured me that when I would send coded numbers of scratch cards his company will pay me two million rupees,” Romana said.
“It was a total fraud as no one contacted me after receiving the coded numbers and now I don’t know how to trace them,” she said. The PTA Chairman said the Authority had cautioned cell phone users through public notices about hoax calls and false prize messages.
“We have been advising mobile phone subscribers not to fall prey to fraudsters,” he said.Upon receiving such calls and messages, mobile phone users should immediately contact their cellular operators for verification of the information, he said.
Shahzada Alam said that some instances had also been reported when cell phone users were deprived of their prepaid balance by replying to a particular SMS, which contained a hidden message that transferred balance from the customer’s account. “This has specially happened with customers of companies that offer credit transfer facility,” he said, asking people to be vigilant.
He said mobile phone subscribers should register complaints with the Authority on a toll free number 0800 55055, so that appropriate action could be taken against persons involved in the fraudulent activity.
Source: The News
Date:1/9/2008
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