It has come to the notice of BtCIRT of a lottery scam via. Whatsapp call in Hindi medium, whereby the scammer indicates that the victim has won a lottery worth Rs. 25,00,000 and is being asked to transfer 1% of it, which is Rs. 25,000 as income tax security deposit in order to receive the lottery amount.
BtCIRT would therefore like to advise all to adhere to the following guidelines and recommendations with regards to scam/phishing calls, emails and messages:
- Do not respond, if you receive a call, SMS or email indicating that you have won a lottery that you have not participated in. It is a scam.
- Do not send money, if you receive a call, SMS or email asking you for your account details saying they would transfer some amount into your account.
- If they ask you to send some amount as fees, those are common tactics to get your payment information. Remember that the fraudsters also favour payments using gift card, prepaid debit card or wire transfer.
- Notice the urgency in the call. Do not give in to the urgency and pressure to take immediate action. Just hang up on suspicious calls.
- Do not provide your account number, credit card/debit card number, or any personal information to a caller, even if the person/company calls for verification purposes.
- Never transfer funds to unknown persons or entities in anticipation of high returns. Remember, nothing comes for free.
- Remember that once the transaction is made, recovery is almost impossible especially when it involves international banks, so be cautious.
Henceforth, if you receive such messages, emails or calls please report to cirt@btcirt.bt so that we can disseminate information on it and protect other citizens from falling victim to such scams. In case you have already made a transaction report to RBP immediately.
References:
Refer BtCIRT articles for further information