MNP Fraud

We all know what MNP is by now. For those who are not aware of it, it is a service called Mobile Number Portability which enables you to switch your mobile phone network without changing your number. This can only happen with your consent and verification of your credentials. However, with the cellular/mobile telecom companies offering incentives for switching your network and giving incentives for referring your friends and family members to their network, there is now an incentive for scammers to gain from it by fraudulent means. They can trick you into switching your network and get benefit of the various incentives being offered for MNP referrals including:

1. Free Handsets
2. Free Balance
3. Free On-Net Minutes
4. Free SMS
5. Extra Balance on recharge
6. Lower friends & family rates

This fraud is executed through an unsolicited call and/or SMS asking YOU to send a text message at short code 667 and forward the response message to other short codes such as 76300/76345/76333/76313. Such SMS may contain a voice/talky message etc. which either gives you an incentive for following instructions or warns you that your SIM will be blocked if you do not follow instructions. However, following these instructions results in your number getting ported out to another network without your consent.

For example, here is the exact text (without any corrections) of such a SMS I received:

"SIM name confram karny k lye 'MNP' likh kr 667 pe snd krde jo msg aye use 03076849769 pr bhej kr phir usi msg ko is 76300 pr bhejde warn SIM kuch dair me block hogi"

Just delete such SMS and warn others.

TIANSHI INTERNATIONAL: A MULTI MILLION DOLLAR SCAM!

These days M/s Tianshi Int’l Pakistan Co. Pvt. Ltd (commonly known as Tianshi or TIENS) (SECP Reg#K-09031 of 2002-2003), a China based Pyramid Scheme is doing a roaring business with the support of highly influential people in Pakistan. They have recruited hundreds of thousands of people in their Pyramid Scheme!

The company has disguised its Pyramid activity with the help of MLM of spurious drugs which are high priced and not saleable so that the members ultimately rely on recruiting more members down the line and make commission that way. Such scams are referred to as “Recruiting MLM” that reward recruitment over retail sales or a “Product-based Pyramid Scheme”. Tiens is running a retail chain of stores under the name of BannerStore (SECP Reg# 0065384) as retail outlets for these spurious drugs. The BannerStore serves as the MLM front to disguise the underlying Pyramid Scheme. This scheme is bad for the people because:

1. Only the people in the top of the pyramid chain make money. The ones at the bottom of pyramid eventually lose when the scheme collapses.
2. It is Haraam! You are not selling any products nor providing a service. You are not trading. You are not manufacturing. You are basically enticing people to entice more people with greed. Members essentially become recruiters who are recruiting recruiters to recruit more recruiters! It is an endless chain of people recruiting people in their down-line!
3. Besides, the products of Tiens are made in China! They do not have any concept of Halaal or Haraam.
4. Ultimately it will collapse….creating legal problems. All the people in your down-line will realize that you misled them and sue you. You may lose your job and your reputation for good.

These thugs are exploiting mainly the students and the unemployed youths by giving them a false hope of employment and financial success. They are easily misled with promises of making their dreams come true. They get impressed by Foreign Styles, fairy tales promises, well dressed staff, modern outlook, trained presenters, and well organized functions in which they award high value gifts to few with a lot of pomp and show under the patronage of influential people. Tiens has created a high profile image by using photos of its Group President Li Jinyuan with prominent people, giving the impression that these people endorse the company. This gives this Pyramid Scheme the legitimacy it needs.

http://www.tiens.com/tiens/group/en/About/achievement_foreign_countries.htm

http://ph.tiens.com/tiens/ph/en/about/1132.htm

People believe it to be a lawful activity as it enjoys support of former Senator/caretaker president Mr. Waseem Sajjad. On Friday, March 18, 2005 Senator Waseem Sajjad inaugurated the office of Tianshi in Pakistan.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-130552544.html

You can also browse through their Focus Magazines and see Mr. Sajjad active with Tianshi (click the top right corner of the e-zine to turn the pages):

http://www.tiens.com.pk/focus/focus_08.html

On page 35 of the following e-zine, you can see Mr. Waseem Sajjad with family in China during the 2009 Grand China Tour Promo of Tiens!

http://www.tiens.com.pk/focus/focus_09.html

In 2008, Mr. Waseem Sajjad congratulated the 13th Anniversary, as well as the inauguration of four BannerStore in Pakistan! Read on:

http://pk.tiens.com/tiens/pk/en/news/news_200812091556933.htm

To add insult to injury, Mr. Omar Sajjad, son of Mr. Waseem Sajjad is their legal counsel. People ask: “How can it be illegal when a Senator himself is promoting it and his law firm is their legal counsels? Clearly, the involvement and support of Mr. Waseem Sajjad is established with so many links on the web. It is saddening to see that such prominent lawyers represent and provide legal protection to such scammers because they have all the money. They will never help the people who are being exploited! Obviously, they cannot pay Mr. Omar Sajjad like Tiens!
Further, the spurious drugs are presented as herbal supplements with great medical benefits. This tactic is used to lend some respect and legitimacy to the scheme. Unfortunately, the drugs are spurious and have no real benefit. Besides, their price makes then unmarketable and the members make money from recruitment in their down-line.

Tiens claims that they are registered with SECP when in reality; they were never audited/inspected by SECP or any other regulatory authority. No one knows anything about the genuineness of their products and their financial affairs. No one knows the break-up of their income to ascertain the source of their income….products or pyramid membership income and the proportion of each in the total income. To date, no one has ascertained if Tiens has paid adequate taxes and if it even files Tax Returns! No one knows if they maintain a bank account and if they do, in which bank? No one knows how much money is being siphoned off out of Pakistan by Tiens! Given the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are involved already (according to one estimate, 1,000,000/- people) it is estimated that millions of dollars or trillions of rupees might have already been siphoned off out of Pakistan!

Tianshi is not only cheating our people, it is also making people consume spurious drugs with devastating side effects. The products are basically medicines but the company brands these as food supplements to dodge the health regulatory authorities. The Provincial Drug Inspector, DG Health Services, Peshawar has filed FIR No. 04/2008 under Section 27 (1) of the Drug Act 1976 and the case is pending in Peshawar High Court due to POLITICAL PRESSURE! So much for the freedom of Judiciary…According to the FIR, Tiens is involved in sale/distribution/manufacture/import of allopathic drugs under the garb of herbal/food supplements without having manufacturing license, registration from the Ministry of Health, which is violation of Section 23 (1) (a) (i) of the Drug Act 1976. One drug mentioned in the FIR was tested with presence of STEROIDS! Further, there are a lot of drugs that Tianshi claimed to have allopathic ingredients but actual analysis of the drugs revealed that none of them had any allopathic ingredient! So much for their drugs!

You can also read a report available on the website of the Federal Trade Commission of USA which has listed Tianshi in Appendix C on the last page as one of the illegal Pyramid/MLM Schemes whose plans were analyzed by the author of the report.

http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/bizoprevised/comments/535221-00006.pdf

To make matters even worse, Tiens Pakistan is under the Tiens South Asia Region. The Regional Headquarters are in Chennai, India! All the data from Pakistan is being sent to India on 25th of every month. TIENS has members from all walks of life, including politicians and other influential people, government employees and military personnel from all provinces lured into their scheme. It is possible that all the data, including employer name, designation, address, contact numbers, emails etc. are available with the Indians. Imagine Indians snooping on mail boxes of people in government service, politics and even military! Clearly, given the current situation of Pakistan, Tiens is an extreme security risk for Pakistan.

Here are some general guidelines:

1. Avoid schemes that promise enormous earnings real fast or get rich quick schemes.
2. Avoid schemes that reward/give commission for recruiting members in your down-line.
3. Beware of schemes that ask new members to purchase expensive products. These schemes can collapse quickly leave you with useless stock.
4. Stay away from schemes that give more commissions on sales made by new members in your down-line rather than through your own sales of the products.
5. Beware of plans that claim to sell miracle products. If there was a cure for baldness, there would not be a single bald man on earth.
6. Don't sign-up in a sales meeting or any other high-pressure situation. Insist on taking your time to think about it. Talk it over with your spouse, a knowledgeable friend, an accountant or a lawyer.
7. Do your homework and verify the credentials from the websites of the relevant regulatory authorities. Also do a web search.
8. Always remember the Golden Rule: If it is too good to be true, then it must be False!

Here is an example of consequences:

In January 1997, a huge number of Albanians suffered huge losses when similar scams collapsed and resulted in a civil war, which killed 2000 Albanians!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_unrest_in_Albania

STOP TIENS/TIANSHI BEFORE IT HURTS US AND OUR BELOVED COUNTRY!

STAY AWAY FROM TIENS AND CONDEMN IT!

Please spread the message for public safety and for PAKISTAN.

ISLAMIC BANKING FRAUD

There is a new scammer in town. Mr. Muhammad Ramzan is the Chief Executive of Global Development Corporation. He claims that Global Development Corporation is registered and is paying tax in Pakistan. According to him, Global Development Corporation is a subsidiary of Bait Al-Mal Al-Islamic Al-Alami/Muslim World Finance (an associate of Sachee International Corporation, a UK Government Licensed Lender.

Mr. Muhammad Ramzan claims that he is giving interest free loans to individuals and is soliciting deposits and investments in Faisalabad. He plans to start the biggest Islamic Bank in the World and the Bait-al-Maal, the Islamic Central Bank of the World. When I contacted State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), they denied having issued any license to Mr. Muhammad Ramzan or any of the entities like the Global Development Corporation, Bait Al-Mal Al-Islamic Al-Alami/Muslim World Finance, Sachee International Corporation or any other entity owned or controlled by Mr. Muhammad Ramzan.

Surprisingly, when I read the Loan Agreement provided by Mr. Muhammad Ramzan, it turns out that it is governed exclusively by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, USA! This got me thinking. I did some searching on the internet and guess what? Mr. Muhammad Ramzan is a fraud! He is a scammer and has looted Muslims in UK and USA in the name of Islam!

Mr. Ramzan has already defrauded Muslims living in UK. He is wanted by the Bradford, West Yorkshire Police in UK in the Muslim World Finance Company fraud amounting to more than £2 million in 1992. West Yorkshire Fraud Squad was investigating this scam when Mr. Ramzan disappeared from UK and is absconding ever since. A news report in “The Independent, UK” has reported the fraud in Bradford by Mr. Muhammad Ramzan at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/muslims-threaten-revenge-over-their-lost-investments-1580488.html

Then Mr. Muhammad Ramzan appeared in California, USA. He has also committed similar fraud in California and was on an INS hold. In the state of California, the California Department of Corporations, in their Investor Education Digest - Winter 2006 available at:

http://www.corp.ca.gov/Education_Outreach/pdf/winter06.pdf

reveals that criminal charges were filed alleging violations of the Corporate Securities Law against Mr. Muhammad Ramzan, promoter of M/s World Link Trading Corporation. He was on an INS Hold there and the charges were filed to prevent Mr. Ramzan from fleeing to Pakistan. Mr. Ramzan distributed flyers at mosques to solicit investment for making interest free Islamic Loans. He collected US$ 600,000/- but no loans were given. Somehow, he managed to flee USA and land in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan!

With inadequate laws and Law Enforcement Agencies handicapped due to many reasons, he seems to be having a blast at scamming unsuspecting Pakistani citizens. Now he has started his scam house in Faisalabad and is set to spread like wildfire all over Pakistan.

Mr. Muhammad Ramzan is an established fraudster and has made a career out of cheating Muslims in the name of Islam! Someone in the relevant Law Enforcement Agency should place Mr. Muhammad Ramzan under arrest before it is too late. His last known address is:

Global Development Corporation
Chamber No: 213-B, District Courts
Faisalabad.

He is an expert escape artist and will run fast once he has scammed enough people and made millions out of our poor people.

MOBILE PHONE FRAUDS IN PAKISTAN

The scammers are very much active in cheating the mobile phone users in Pakistan. Perhaps the most important factor which encourages scammers is the fact that they are protected by the telecom companies. I myself reported a telephone scam and asked them to reveal the identity of the caller. They flatly refused and said that they will take appropriate action themselves. For some reason, they are not at all willing to unmask the fraudsters and our legal system is too complicated. Litigation is also time consuming and in some cases takes as long as 20 years! Not to mention that an ordinary citizen cannot afford the expenses. So awareness is our best bet to safeguard against scammers. The three most common mobile phone frauds in Pakistan are:

SMS BALANCE TRANSFER FRAUD

This is the most common type and has been there for some time now. But it is still popular and effective. The number of complaints about this fraud suggests that people are still falling in this trap and there is a lack of awareness. Consider the following SMS (All the numbers are REAL; actual SMS reproduced, including the spelling mistakes!)

• From: +923036634543
Date: 10/11/09
BEGIN:VCARD
N:A Shazia
TEL:*100*923052492603*33#
END:VCARD

• From: +923317008692
Date: 10/01/10
BEGIN:VCARD
N:A A NADIACALLME
TEL:*100*923056960740*30##########
END:VCARD

• From: +923317008692
Date: 19/01/10
BEGIN:VCARD
N:A A NADIACALLME
TEL:*100*923056766798*30##########
END:VCARD

• From: +923317108651
Date: 01/02/10
BEGIN:VCARD
N:A Shzaia=@LOVE@
TEL:*100*923053901997*33##########
END:VCARD

Basically, these SMS use girl’s names to entice men to call back these numbers. In reality, the sender is asking you to transfer Rs. 100 from your account balance to the number in the Balance Transfer Code written after, TEL:. In the last example, it is made to look like the number of, “Shzaia=@LOVE@” is as given at, “TEL:*100*923053901997*33##########”. If a gentleman makes the mistake of calling this number, he will end up transferring balance of Rs. 100 to the telephone number in the code, which is, “03053901997”. It is amazing that a lot of people still fall prey to this scam. Not to mention those who knowingly call back such numbers, assuming that there is a girl on the other side!

JAZZ MALAMAL SMS BALANCE TRANSFER FRAUD

This is basically the same as above SMS Balance Transfer Fraud, but instead of using girls names to trap gentlemen, it uses the appeal of a real scheme being run by Mobilink in Pakistan to entice everyone naïve enough to fall prey to their scam. Being skeptic is not a good quality in general but my skepticism has served me well when it comes to scams. Consider the following SMS (exact SMS reproduces, including the spelling mistakes):

From: +923072264837
Date: 09/02/10
*JAZZ*
Ki tarf say aap
ko MALAMAL
main 500 rupes
“MUBARIK” ho.
Aap ye code
Milaen*100#923072263133*030#YES
Aap k balance main 500
Rupes ka azafa ho ga.

This is really creative and more convincing. People are conned into believing that the SMS is from Mobilink and end up transferring Rs. 100 instead of receiving Rs. 500 as promised.

IMSI BALANCE TRANSFER FRAUD

Most of the people I talked to did not know what IMSI was. It is common knowledge that the scammers are smarter than an average person. They are always looking for convincing ways to make people believe them so that they can con them into parting with their hard earned money. In the latest scam frenzy to hit Pakistan is the IMSI Balance Transfer Fraud. What happens is that you receive a call. The caller will tell you that he is calling from Mobilink to congratulate you for winning Rs. 550,000/- in the Malamal Scheme. But the caller will say that it depends on one condition. He will ask you to write down the number, “899-220” and will tell you that you will get this prize if this number is also written on the back of your SIM Card. He will ask you to call back after checking this number on you SIM card. Now here is the catch, these are the first six digits of the IMSI Number of Mobilink! Assuming that Mobilink has only one IMSI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMSI), this number will be on all Mobilink SIMs!! When you call back, he will ask you to call his supervisor on another number to find out how to claim your prize. Now these shortlisted people are handled by another person who will congratulate the callers and tell them that the fact that he is receiving this call proves that you are a winner. Then he will tell you to visit 10 mobile phone prepaid card retailers and buy cards worth Rs. 500 from each of them, a total of Rs. 5000 worth of cards and call him back after loading this balance in your phone. Different people are asked to load prepaid cards of different amounts. If you do this and call back; then comes the same Balance Transfer Story again. He will tell you that you will receive a SMS with a calling code. After you call on that calling code, you will get another SMS for further instructions, address of the Mobilink Service Center and the name and telephone number of the contact person to claim your prize. The SMS will be followed by another SMS and so on until you have either become suspicious and stop or transferred the whole amount!! After that you will visit the nearest Mobilink Service Centre only to find out that you have been conned!!!

Now here comes the surprise: Did anyone wonder for a second, how can you win a prize if you did not enter into such a scheme to begin with????? I am sure most of us did not even think about this. This is basically what happens. We get excited at the prospects of winning and stop thinking rationally. This is why the scammers are always able to find victims. Spread the word and raise awareness. Together, we can fight the scammers!

CAREER OPPORTUNITY/JOB SCAMS

We all have dreams and aspirations. Unfortunately, in a third world country like Pakistan, we have more dreams than opportunities to make them come true. With the state of economy the way it is, there are very few amongst us who have decent jobs that can help us fulfill our basic needs. Out of our necessity to better our lives and to fulfill the needs and desires of ourselves and our loved ones, we are all the time thinking of ways to make our dreams come true. For this reason, we are always desperate for a better job and even a complete change of career. It is our desires and our desperation for fulfilling them that the scammers are exploiting. You need to be aware that there are a lot of career opportunities or job scams in Pakistan.

With so many people living below poverty line, there are so many unsuspecting people falling prey to these scammers every day. The targets of career opportunity scams are from the entire spectrum of the demography. From ladies, widows, students to the already desperate victims of earthquake and now the IDPs of the Northern Areas have fallen prey to the career opportunity scams.

Modus Operandi

It all starts with an advertisement through any medium (newspaper, television, letter, SMS, telephone call, website, email or word of mouth, you name it. The advertisement may offer very attractive opportunity of a work at home scheme, job abroad, online payment processor, franchise, commission agent etc. It could be a company offering to market your invention or publish your book. It could be a company offering to create products based on your ideas.

Regardless of the type of opportunity presented, all such schemes have one thing in common: They all promise you huge income in a relatively short period of time; dreams (read fantasies) come true. But once you are convinced and have filled their registration forms and submitted all the data, they will all require you to pay a small amount up-front on one pretext or another. In all the excitement, some people may not realize that they are being cheated and end up paying. It is this amount that they are deprived of and it is lost forever. This is what is known as the advance fee fraud. Shattered dreams and loss of hard earned money. Money that is really hard to come by in a developed country like ours with so much unemployment.

Prevention

Do not believe everything you read in advertisements or what people tell you. Don’t believe in anything that is too good to be true. Try to verify the credentials of the advertiser before you make a decision. Does the advertiser have a brick and mortar address? does it have a land line telephone number? Is it a regulated entity? If so, verify with the regulator. Is it a new company or a well established old company of repute?

Learn to question everything. Ask the experts in the field. The more questions you ask, the more informed your decision will be. Never trust anyone who promises fortunes and then asks for a fee up-front. Don’t deal with anyone if you have to pay up front. The habit of questioning will save you from lot of pain, misery and financial distress. Because if you do become a victim of a scam, chances are the scammers will have disappeared with your money along with thousands of others like you. Even if you get them, the legal battle may last for years and cost you more time and money than you had lost to begin with. Prevention is always better than cure. Take care.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE

I have come across a lot of people who lost their hard earned money to scammers, fraudsters, cheaters, thugs….chose your word; they all mean the same to me. They all wanted to get rich quick like me, but I was rigid when it came to values and that is the only reason why I have always managed to steer myself away from scammers. I always managed to subdue my greed, uphold my vales and struggled in the right direction. There is no easy way out, there is no shortcut. A lot of really good people, unfortunately too eager to get rich quick, lost their hard earned money to the scammers. They are all mostly good people, earning an honest living, working hard to make their dreams come true. Whenever they come to me for help, I am so saddened at the expensive justice system we have in place. Most of the honest people hardly earn enough to meet the basic needs of their families. Very few can afford the lawyers and the time needed to pursue litigation. Most are working class people with their jobs to worry about and cannot stay away from work for extended periods. Besides, in some cases, there is a vacuum in the legislation and it is extremely difficult to convict the scammers as their scam has not been declared a predicate offence yet. While I will always encourage people to fight for their rights and do not let the scammers get away with it, I feel it will be better to create public awareness about the various types of scams so that people can steer away from them. Prevention is always better than cure and less costly. So stay with me, I am involved in combating financial crimes and will do my bit to save people from becoming victims. Let us help each other and save each other from the scammers.