Batelco, the Kingdom’s leading telecommunications provider, has issued a warning to its mobile customers to be on the alert regarding a spate of fraudulent calls and text messages informing them that they have won prizes including significant amounts of money.
“A number of Batelco’s customers have received calls or text messages asking them to reveal personal information and to provide prepaid top ups in order to qualify to win the prizes,” Batelco’s Group General Manager Media Relations Ahmed Al Janahi, said.
“We strongly advise our customers that these are fraudulent calls and messages. Batelco will never ask for personal information of any nature such as bank account details or passwords,” he added.
Batelco issued several similar warnings over the last couple of years alerting its customers about hoax calls offering large cash prizes. Furthermore, Batelco has issued many previous warnings to customers regarding fraudulent text messages and emails. Typically these messages ask for information about customers’ user names and passwords but these recent messages try to attract people by the promise of a big cash prize.
“Customers should be aware that such calls announcing that they have won money are fraudulent. We advise anyone who receives such calls or SMS to ignore them,” Al Janahi, said.
To block unwanted SMS messages, send the text message “BLOCK SENDER” to 5000, replacing “SENDER” with the exact name or number that you wish to block.
“Batelco always uses a professional process to contact its customers to inform them when they have won a prize and the customer would always be invited to Batelco’s Hamala Headquarters or a Batelco Retail Shop to collect any prize in person.”