Video: Pakistani victim of phone scam narrates his story

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Video: Pakistani victim of phone scam narrates his story

Dubai - They sent him official looking documents bearing his name.

By Web Report

Published: Wed 2 May 2018, 1:10 PM

Last updated: Sat 12 May 2018, 4:41 PM

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has issued a video regarding spam messages being circulated on social media.
The video opens with an SMS message that states: 'Dear Sefyan Arshad, your prize amount is 250000 but you have some charges company are remaining please complete the process through the company and received your payment from Al-Alnsari Exchange tex 1500. [sic]"
Another clip shows a table with people's names slotted in "1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes" with the highest being Dh5,000,000 for an Indian man.
"I got a call from an Etisalat number. I was sleeping that time. They said that I won a lottery worth 2 lakhs," Arshad, a Pakistani national, relates.
"They said to remove my SIM card from the phone and check the number written on the back of the SIM. The number was the same. I couldn't believe he was right. I knew it was fraud, but somehow he convinced me. Then he sent me some papers with my name and number written."
"'You have to follow some rules of our company,' he said to me. I gave him nearly Dh22,000 in total. It was all transacted by sending him credit or via payment machines."
The video ends with the warning to report any scam or fraud methods to the authorities.

?????? ?????? ????? ?? ?? ???????? #???????_?????????? #????_???_???? . Fake Rewards, Fall into fraud trap #Spam_Messages #Know_their_ Story . ???? ???????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?? ?( ???? ??????? ) ( ?? ?? ????? ????? ) . #????_?????_????????? #aecert #????_?????????_??????_??????_?????
A post shared by ???? ????? ?????????.???????? (@theuaetra) on May 1, 2018 at 3:40am PDT

Recently, Abu Dhabi Police have also been issuing videos featuring persons who were duped by phone scammers.
Video: Filipina warns UAE expats against online phone scams
This is part of their campaign on social media to raise awareness about such scams through real life accounts told by residents.
Video: I was a victim of fake prize money scam, recounts Arab woman in UAE
Reports of such social media scams have been circulating for the past few months.