A fresh crackdown has been launched against those involved in minting money by sending bogus text messages, promising tens of thousands of rupees in cash to the poor families, Benazir Income Support Programme officials said on Friday.
The administration has also decided to forward all these complaints to the cyber wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to identify the deceivers, said BISP officials. A fresh request to the FIA and all other telecom companies is being sent to expose the network involved in this notorious business, they added.
Hundreds of BISP beneficiaries and other citizens have lodged complaints with BISP headquarter and regional offices that they were receiving random texts asking for money so that they can receive the promised cash, they explained.
According to an official statement, BISP issued these directives after hearing complaints received by BISP official regarding cases where people from all segments of the society have been deprived of money through fake SMS messages promising them cash returns from BISP.
BISP Chairman Enver Baig has asked the officials to follow up on the complaints forwarded to relevant government agencies and to accelerate affirmative action on the matter.
This problem has persisted for a long time and meetings with federal agencies and telecom companies were held in the past too.
BISP reiterated their stance of not using SMS or mobile services to include people in the beneficiary list. Rather, beneficiaries are determined on the basis of PMT Survey and the communication is only carried out officially through regional offices, it added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2014.
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