State Bank warns people of fake calls from fraudsters

Karachi: State Bank of Pakistan has learnt that fraudsters are attempting to defraud the banking customers by seeking bank account details on the pretext of biometric verification, said a statement issued on Tuesday.

In many cases, this is being done through fake calls by masking the official helpline or registered numbers of banks.

The receivers apparently believe that the call is genuine or from the bank and share their personal information including bank account number, ID, password, CNIC number ete. resulting in loss of their money, said a SBP press release on Monday.

The fraudsters generally impersonate as officials of State Bank, Army Officer or representative of Superior Courts of law etc. engaged in the process of biometric verification of accounts.

The Central Bank has advised the public to immediately contact their banks on their registered numbers/helpline themselves instead of responding the incoming calls and sharing their credentials.

SBP/Banks/Micro Finance Banks do not conduct biometric verification of banks’ existing customers through telephone calls.

If public receive such a call, they should share the details of these cases/incidents with law enforcement agencies or SBP on its helpline at 021-111-727-273 or email at cpd. helpdesk@sbp. org. pk.