UNB, Dhaka :
Fraud gangs, including foreigners, are extracting huge money from some naive mobile phone users in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country promising false offers and impersonating short codes of mobile money transfer windows, especially bKash.
Talking to UNB, a number of victims said the scammers send masked SMS or make phone calls to mobile phone customers informing them that they have won lottery or an offer, and that they need to pay a certain amount of money to avail of that. The thugs sometimes tell the subscribers they have mistakenly sent money to their mobile money transfer window wallet begging for returning the amount following certain instructions. Those who act as per the unknown callers’ instruction, they will lose the money from their original account.
It sometimes becomes difficult for the customers to distinguish the fake calls
and masked SMS and fake short codes as the fraudsters make those using technology. Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masudur Rahman said these days they are receiving a large number of complainants in this regard since they launched their mobile apps ‘Hello CT’ last year. Local police stations are also receiving such complainants from the victims, he said. Humayun Kabir, who works with Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), received a phone call from a mobile number 01738015800 recently when the caller told him that Tk 10,000 was mistakenly transferred to his bKash account and urged him to return the amount.
Shortly afterwards, he received an SMS mentioning that Tk 10,000 was added to his bKash wallet. And instantly, the gangster called him again and wanted to know whether he received the message.
After consultation with his wife, Humayun returned the amount to the mobile number given by the caller only to discover that it was deducted from his balance which was Tk 19,000.
Fraud gangs, including foreigners, are extracting huge money from some naive mobile phone users in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country promising false offers and impersonating short codes of mobile money transfer windows, especially bKash.
Talking to UNB, a number of victims said the scammers send masked SMS or make phone calls to mobile phone customers informing them that they have won lottery or an offer, and that they need to pay a certain amount of money to avail of that. The thugs sometimes tell the subscribers they have mistakenly sent money to their mobile money transfer window wallet begging for returning the amount following certain instructions. Those who act as per the unknown callers’ instruction, they will lose the money from their original account.
It sometimes becomes difficult for the customers to distinguish the fake calls
and masked SMS and fake short codes as the fraudsters make those using technology. Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masudur Rahman said these days they are receiving a large number of complainants in this regard since they launched their mobile apps ‘Hello CT’ last year. Local police stations are also receiving such complainants from the victims, he said. Humayun Kabir, who works with Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), received a phone call from a mobile number 01738015800 recently when the caller told him that Tk 10,000 was mistakenly transferred to his bKash account and urged him to return the amount.
Shortly afterwards, he received an SMS mentioning that Tk 10,000 was added to his bKash wallet. And instantly, the gangster called him again and wanted to know whether he received the message.
After consultation with his wife, Humayun returned the amount to the mobile number given by the caller only to discover that it was deducted from his balance which was Tk 19,000.
