Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has failed to stop the practice of looting citizens by scammers using mobile phones while offering money in the name of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), Daily Times has learnt.

It is strange to note that now almost all SIM cards were operating against valid CNICs across the country but the authorities concerned had failed to block these SIMS and take action against the fraudsters involved in fooling simple citizens.

The mobile consumers usually received an Urdu text from unknown numbers, which read as, “Benazir Income Support Programme se Rs. 35,000 Mubarik hon, Malomat ke lea 0341-8244087 per call karein.”

A resident of sector G-7, Usman Ali, informed this scribe that he had received the same message from 0348-6153551 and he was advised to contact at 0341-8244087 for further information. When he contacted at this number, a recorded version of an operator asked him to reach a shop of Mobi-cash or Easypaisa between 8am to 8pm and contact another person “Irfan Bhai” through another mobile number 0348-3819511 to claim his amount.

Usman followed the instructions and contacted “Irfan Bhai” while standing outside an Easypaisa shop near his home.

Irfan asked the shopkeeper to share Rs. 35,000 from his account that was at another number 0348-5838602. When the shopkeeper asked about his ID card the operator provided a fake CNIC number 2640258476510.

In this short process about four mobile numbers were used by the fraudsters to trap Usman Ali, who remained safe due to the interference of an mobile money shopkeeper.

The shopkeepers asked the operator to provide a correct CNIC number on which the operator “Irfan Bhai” disconnected the phone call while asking Usman Ali to approach another Easypaisa shop. This is not just one story. A big mafia is involved in fraud practice across the country and thousands of mobile users daily receive the same messages and many of them become victims of fraud.

The PTA also daily receives hundreds of such complaints from citizens regarding such practices but these networks were operating openly. Although, the government had ensured to register almost all SIMS cards and it was easy to trace these network but the authority concerned has failed to take strict action these networks.

The BISP, launched in July 2008, aims at providing cash transfers of Rs1500 per month to underprivileged people to add to their income.

Notably, the telecom industry has so far spent more than five billion rupees in deploying biometric SIM verification (BVS) to have identity records of the subscribers. The industry has also spent Rs 140 million on the BVS awareness campaign. The fraudsters seem undeterred in deceiving people as they have been using the same cheating ploys for years.

It is very unfortunate that scammers are still able to trap, dodge and deceive innocent people while making a mockery of the biometric SIM verification system.