The Central Bank (CBSL) yesterday said that its attention has been drawn to recent grievances received from the general public regarding financial scams spreading via fraudulent individuals, phone calls, text messages, phishing emails and social media messages. 

The banking regulator said that it has noticed a rapid increase in the number of complaints filed by aggrieved parties in relation to defrauding money from individuals by giving false information through fraudulent phone calls, text messages, e-mail messages and social media networks, promising to direct them to foreign employment or asking them to pay customs duties to receive parcels containing various valuable goods.

Against this backdrop, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) thereby emphasised the public not to deposit money into the bank accounts of unknown parties or remit money through other means based on the above information, without proper verification.

Warning that the scammers who engage in such practices, may request the information to proceed with such transactions including: Personal Identification Number (PIN), Card Verification Values (CVV) used to authenticate payment cards as stated on the back of the credit and debit cards, One-Time Passwords (OTP) used to authenticate transactions and User IDs, Passwords and OTPs used in mobile banking/internet banking — the FIU insisted public that such ‘confidential information should not be shared with any third party’ and to be vigilant of such scams.

Reiterating public not to be victims of such financial scams, the Central Bank also said, providing such details will surely make you/your family member/your close friend, a victim of a financial scam.

The Central Bank also called on the public to inform the FIU via 011-2477125 or 011-2477509 if they receive these types of phone calls or text messages.

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