Fake Prize Winner Phone Calls.

Fake Prize Winner Phone Calls are made to unsuspecting mobile phone owners to steal money from them with the line of you are a winner. In Sri Lanka lot of people had been cheated of their hard earned money through these kinds of fake prize money winner calls. These calls used to the general public's mobile phones from some organized people who are very talented in cheating people. Most of these prize money winner calls used to come in the day time and according to the person's language. These people had worked or have connection in some organizations like hospitals, Dental Clinics where people used to provide their mobile phone number and names. From such places they used to collect your name and phone number.

How this scam works?

The caller used to tell the phone owner, that there is a large sum of money as prize is waiting for him. The prize money had been won by the mobile phone number of the user and the user hadn't noticed it. So the caller acts as he can help him to get that prize money for him. The receiver used to believe it as there are draws being conducted by the mobile phone service providers in Sri Lanka. For this the caller will ask the phone owner to pay some money via mobile pay method. People used to think that they had been selected as a winner in the draw of their SIM card providing company. So they deposit the money for that person. After that when he realizes something went wrong and tries to call the number. There will be no answer or response from the other side. When contacting the mobile operator, they will say they don't know anything about this. And they will ask that person to make a complaint with the police.

Here are the main facts. The caller used to say that there is price to be claimed by the mobile phone owner. To get that money the caller will instruct them to pay the insurance money or tax or some other purpose and will ask them to send that cash through bank account or through mobile fund transfer to a given phone number. Once they deposit their money and call the person to get their price, there will be no response from the other side. The person may have vanished with the deposited money. In most of the cases Police can't trace those people.

AVOID FAKE PRIZE WINNER SCAM

• Don't give them your name or address.(Most callers don't know who you are)
• Ask them to tell your name first. (If they say that they are calling from a company you have connection. They don't know your name)
• Tell him "If you are calling from the phone company to offer a prize money, you must have my name and address with you."
• Put the next question as "Who gave you my phone number or how you got your phone number".
• With this they will stop the calls.

DIALOG DRAW

If you are a Dialog customer and if you had made a reload to your mobile phone account, you will have the chance to be a winner in their weekly draw for certain period.

• To check your Winning, just dial #121# and you will get a SMS option with numbers of preference.
• Enter 2 and send it.
• If there are any prizes for you, result will be displayed through SMS as prizes or no prizes for you.
• If you had won any prizes go to the nearest Dialog Centre and collect it.
• Recently they had stopped this draw.
  
  Dialog Mobile had sent this SMS message to its customers. "Special Notice. Dialog doesn’t levy fees from customers for claiming Prices. If you receive such a call / SMS it is a fraud. Please call us on1777 to verify."
  

Mobitel.lk Cash Bonanza.

• Winners will not be contacted via personal Mobile numbers or Land line numbers under any circumstances.
• Never believe phone calls that used to say you had won cash prizes.
• In the recent times, this draw too has been discontinued.

Airport Parcel Scam.

Some people used to get your personal information from public domains. This may include mobile phone number in your Internet pages. They used to call and say that they are at the airport Arrival lounge with a parcel that contains valuable things. Will claim it has been sent to you by a friend of yours. The trick is to pay the duty tax for the customs to clear the parcel. So they will ask you to send around Rs 45,000/- to the bank account that they had sent to your mobile phone SMS. If you pay the amount they promise to bring the parcel to your home. If you had sent the money to the particular person you won't see the parcel or money. Also you can't contact that person again. Your hard earned money is vanished with this latest gift parcel scam.

Fake Money Transfer to Your Bank Account.

If you received any message or call that some money had been transferred to your Bank Account from unknown person, be cautious.
Specially if you have online banking facility enabled take your steps carefully.
Don't scan any QR codes through your Smartphone that had been sent to you from unknown people.
Never provide your Bank account's Username or Password to anyone.
It will provide path to transfer funds from your Bank Account to third parties.
If you feel suspicion about your Bank Account activities visit your Bank's branch and report it.

Fake cops involved in EZ cash scam.