LAHORE: ( MEDIA REPORT )
Mobile phone subscribers continue to receive the text messages that impersonate government social safety net Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) to rip them off, The News learnt.
Such message senders seem to send SMS (short message service) in bulk to a number of subscribers, stating that a receiver is awarded such and such amount from the BISP as the recipient number is registered with the BISP.
In Urdu, a typical message reads: “Benazir income support ki taraf se apko Rs25,200 milain hain…apka ye number 0321-4016140 BISP mein register tha. Ap is number [0336-1179481] per call karien”.
A witness said the text came from 0348-6354252 and a number from other cellular operator was mentioned in the text body.
It is observed that the sending number SIM (subscriber identity module) gets non responsive, while the other number remains operational for a couple of days.
A person, who called the number, was told to transfer some money through a mobile financial service to receive the BISP stipend.
BISP, launched in July 2008, aims at providing cash transfers of Rs1,500/month to underprivileged people to add to their income.
The fraudsters seem undeterred in deceiving people as they have been using the same cheating ploys for years.
The spokesperson at the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said the authority is well cognizant with the consumers’ grievances and taking number of steps to resolve their issues.
“In July 2015, 1,508 mobile subscriptions were reported to PTA from BISP, involved in BISP frauds, which were blocked by the respective operators on the PTA direction,” the spokesperson said.
He said it was decided in a meeting held on 16 April, 2015 at the BISP secretariat that mobile subscriptions involved in fraudulent activity would be blocked.
Courtesy… The News Lahore