Mobile users asked to guard against recharge fraudsters

The scam works this way: The crook would phone the unsuspecting victim and say that his SIM card number has been chosen as a winner in a lucky draw worth SR 200,000.
The crook says the victim's SIM card number has 899660 as the first six digits. However, these first six digits are the same in all SIM card numbers.

To claim the nonexistent prize, the victim must give the caller the pin numbers of valid recharge vouchers worth anywhere between SR 300 and SR 1,500.

The crook would ask for the identity number and bank account details of the victims. Sometimes the crook would say the money would be sent to a well-known bank where the victim has to go fetch it.

Once the victim reveals the pin numbers, the crook then shuts down his phone and disappears.

The crooks use the telephone numbers of all the well-known mobile phone operators in the country.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), the Kingdom's telecommunications regulatory authority, has confirmed that professional gangs are involved in this fraud.

CITC spokesman Sultan Al-Malek said the public should ignore these people and not be tempted by the offer of cash prizes.

He added that it was impossible for these fraudsters to be employees of the mobile telecom companies operating in the Kingdom because they have systems protecting the privacy of subscribers. He added that it was not possible for these employees to leak numbers.

He said aggrieved customers should immediately inform the mobile companies about the fraud.

Three female employees at a company in Dammam recently repeatedly received calls from different numbers from individuals, saying that they were employees of one of the biggest telecom companies in the region.

They told the women that they had each won SR 200,000 because their SIM numbers had been picked as winners in a lucky draw. They were each asked to provide pin numbers of 15 recharge vouchers worth SR 100 each, or five vouchers of SR 300 each. They were asked to provide their identity numbers and account details so that their "prizes" could be transferred to their accounts.

Talat Hafiz, secretary-general of media and education for Saudi banks, said it was impossible for such fraudsters to encroach on the banking system unless account holders willingly reveal their secret passwords and pin numbers.
He said Saudi bank officials would never ask customers for personal account information over the phone.

There have also been reports of versions of this recharge scam being perpetrated in the United Arab Emirates, but with cash directly siphoned from the bank accounts of victims. This has seen banks and telecoms companies blaming each other for the fraud.

The fraud in the UAE has involved amounts between SR 3,000 and SR 100,000. Many victims have reportedly not been able to get their money back from local banks.

Source: ARAB NEWS