State Bank Issues Warning About Scammers

Reports reveal recent troubling events where the public reported an increase of scammers calling them to commit frauds. In response the State Bank of Pakistan is cautioning users against such frauds.

On Monday they issued a statement saying,

“It has come to our knowledge that fraudsters are attempting to defraud the banking customers by seeking bank account details on the pretext of biometric verification”.

State Bank of Pakistan cautions public about scammers

 

The way the fraudulent calls work is very simple. The scammer calls you using what seems to be the official helpline number or registered number of your bank. The customers assume that they are receiving a call from their bank’s representative. And thus they release personal information including their bank account number, ID, passwords, and even their CNIC number.

The scammers fool customers by posing as State Bank of Pakistan officials, army officers or even representatives of court. They mislead the public by claiming to inquire about bio metric verification. By sharing their confidential information customers face severe losses.

What the public can do

 

Thus in order to avoid any further losses and frauds the SBP is cautioning the public to be more vigilant and wary of any calls they might receive. They are guiding the public to immediately contact their banks on their actual registered numbers instead of responding to these fraudulent calls. They are told to avoid sharing personal information unless they have confirmed the authenticity of the person calling.

Furthermore it is essential for the public to know that SBP and banks do not conduct bio metric verification of existing customer’s bank accounts through phone calls. In any case where you feel that you are becoming the target of such a call it is important for you to immediately contact law enforcement. You can also contact the SBP Helpline directly at 021-111-727-723.

The frauds come after the SBP issued a directive last year calling on all banks to confirm their customer’s bank accounts using bio metric verification. Before this the process used to be handled manually which had allowed for great misuse and thus the government took this step in order to ensure a transparent process.

 

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