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!