• Home

Etisalat advises caution against prank messages

SHARJAH/ DUBAI — Etisalat has cautioned its subscribers against prank messages being circulated in its name.

The caution followed a report published in Khaleej Times on Saturday about an SMS which asked subscribes to forward the message to 10 others and add Dh25 to their account.

A large number of people became victims of the prank message with many of them forwarding the SMS to their friends and relatives.

Ahmed bin Ali, Director of Etisalat, confirmed that the circulated message was a prank.

He said that Etisalat follows a clear procedure when it decides to launch services or offers. “We announce offers and new services in newspapers and on the Etisalat web site, besides alerting our subscribers by SMS,” he explained.

Currently there are three Etisalat promotions under way, details of which are provided on 101 service, he added.

Nahlah Omar, a banker at Emirates Bank, said that she received the SMS from her friends and she also started SMSing.

“I used my children’s mobile phones and sent an SMS to each other so as to get the credit balance for them because they demand money everyday to buy prepaid phone cards. I was very happy when I received the message thinking it would help me reduce my expences. But when I checked my account, I found no balance had been added,” she said, adding, “I really felt disappointed and depressed. I called Etisalat and they denied that they had sent any message.”

Murhaf Wahb, a teacher in a private school in Sharjah, said that she had received the message from one of her students.

“I forwarded it to several of my friends and colleagues, but I really felt bad when I discovered it was a prank,” she said.