Thousands swindled in name of BISP rewards

No comprehensive action has been taken against the culprits, apart from blocking SIMs

ISLAMABAD: Thousands of gullible, poor citizens continue to be cheated by con men who use the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) rewards for swindling people. So far, the government has not been able to apprehend the fraudsters.

Scammers usually contact their victims by sending them an SMS, telling them that they have won a cash reward of Rs25,200 (the sum varies) under the BISP scheme and that they then need to contact a particular number to claim the prize.

Once the victim calls the number, a man identifying himself as ‘Zeeshan’ answers through a recorded message and directs the victim to approach any branchless banking service and then contact a second number. The victim is told to keep the details of the process secret otherwise the prize would be forfeited.



When the victim visits an branchless banking service and calls the second number, a man called ‘Rashid’ at the other end directs them to hand the phone over to the shopkeeper to explain the process and complete the transfer.

When The Express Tribune retraced the steps, the shopkeeper said that the man on the other end had first enquired about the commission the shopkeeper would charge on a sum of Rs15,000.

Rashid then told the shopkeeper to follow an elaborate set of instructions on the cellular instrument for carrying out a transaction. However, the shopkeeper said that if he conducted the transaction, it would see a transfer of Rs15,000 from his account to the one specified by Rashid.

In such an event, the victim – waiting for their reward -- would have been liable to pay the money transferred from the shopkeeper’s account too and his commission.

A BISP official said they received 12,437 complaints of fraud messages from across the country between December 2014 and December 2015.

He said the cases were referred to relevant cellular companies and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to take action. While BISP had no data on how many scammers were apprehended, the official said 5,400 SIMs used in the scam had been blocked.

Meanwhile, Marvi Memon, chairperson of BISP, told The Express Tribune cases had been sent to the FIA.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st,  2016.