Last
week, I received 2 missed calls from an unknown number, When I called the number back a
voice with an accent said "hi sir, this is Etisalat (The main mobile
operator in UAE), congratulations you won AED500,000. Please turn off your
phone, and get your sim out and read the last 3 digits on it, they
should read 639 (apparently all Etisalat sims end with this number) and call me
back" - I said ok, and closed.
He made another missed call after 5 min, he said did you check, I confirmed and said that I should receive my gift. Here I asked why do you make missed call, and not call, if you are from Etisalat, he said they are calling me, but it's is an issue in the network (Etisalat is suddenly having problems with my sim only).
He asked for my name, and nationality, I gave fake ones, he said that they opened an account with my name in Dubai Islamic Bank and gave me an account number. And then he said, one more thing is needed, I have to go to the nearest supermarket, buy AED2,000 worth of Etisalat vouchers to verify that I'm an Etisalat user.
I started laughing and told him, I will get them later, he said no, now, you have 15 min, you are on the air on the radio and people are listening to me as I speak.
I ended the call by threatening them, and I called the police who took the number and promised to take action.
Surprisingly, I was telling this story to a friend, and he told me that he fell for it, and after giving them the pins for the vouchers, they asked for another set of AED2,000 and another one ( they turn greedy once they capture a prey)
They ripped him AED 6,000 and you know what happened.
He made another missed call after 5 min, he said did you check, I confirmed and said that I should receive my gift. Here I asked why do you make missed call, and not call, if you are from Etisalat, he said they are calling me, but it's is an issue in the network (Etisalat is suddenly having problems with my sim only).
He asked for my name, and nationality, I gave fake ones, he said that they opened an account with my name in Dubai Islamic Bank and gave me an account number. And then he said, one more thing is needed, I have to go to the nearest supermarket, buy AED2,000 worth of Etisalat vouchers to verify that I'm an Etisalat user.
I started laughing and told him, I will get them later, he said no, now, you have 15 min, you are on the air on the radio and people are listening to me as I speak.
I ended the call by threatening them, and I called the police who took the number and promised to take action.
Surprisingly, I was telling this story to a friend, and he told me that he fell for it, and after giving them the pins for the vouchers, they asked for another set of AED2,000 and another one ( they turn greedy once they capture a prey)
They ripped him AED 6,000 and you know what happened.
Again,
spotting scams requires a little bit of awareness and questioning. I hope that
this post saves some people from getting conned.
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