Latest update March 21st, 2025 7:03 AM
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Cell phone card scam…Woman taken for $42,000
A woman from Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, is claiming that she was contacted by an individual who then informed her that she had won the “super sweepstakes”. The man identified himself as a representative of
The shredded cell phone cards.
a telephone service provider.
With his “smooth talks and sweet words”, at the end of the conversation, the woman, Pam Smith, had already committed to give the man what he requested – $21,000 worth in phone cards and a promise to send $42,000 later that day.
After the voucher pins were transferred, he then requested that the cards be ‘chipped up’ into tiny pieces and shuffled about – to which she obliged. It was after she visited an outlet of one of the service providers to obtain “the prize”, that she learnt it was all a scam. However, the perpetrator contacted her later asking for the $42,000 she had promised.
Smith began pleading with the man to return her voucher pins, but to no avail.
This scam, which is known by most Guyanese, has been lying somewhat dormant after it was exposed by a Lindener, who took to a national television programme some years ago.
With its return, it seems as if the perpetrators have upped their game.
“He called me on Friday morning and said that I win the competition. He ask me if I was aware of the collaboration between Digicel and GT&T and I said no and he told me that it was my lucky day and how I was live on Air.
“I believe every word because he sound like a commentator. I didn’t think that he was trying to rob me because he sound real (convincing). He told me to buy $21,000 in phone cards; all two Digicel and GT&T and how he will call back. He called back and I read out the pin (numbers) for him. When I done he told me to chip up the cards,” Smith said.
The distraught woman said that she reported the matter to the police where an officer told her that “it was them prisoners who doing them things”.
Smith refuted this assertion saying that after she gave the anonymous caller the voucher pins, she could not make any calls from both her cellular phone and landline.
“I don’t believe is prisoners, it is more than that, my landline and cellphone could not make any calls after. It was long after that I coulda make a call. This thing got to stop. I can’t see how I can’t get back my money,”
Several social media users have been posting on Facebook about their experiences asking that persons be more cognisant and to record these conversations.
There have also been reports of persons receiving calls from “Customer Service Representatives” requesting information on National Passports and National Identification Cards.
Just recently, a Kaieteur News reporter was targeted by a “relentless” caller requesting the information on his national documents, saying that he had won a substantial amount of money among other things.
The reporter obtained the recording from his service provider and is now using the recording to spread awareness online.
When this publication contacted the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Digicel, Vidya Sanichara, she related that indeed, this has been an issue that has been going for some time now and the company has been informing the public on a regular basis through Short Message Service (SMS/text messages) to be more cognisant.
Sanichara also related that under no circumstances will Digicel ask its customers for credit since “Digicel sells credit”.
She continued that investigators are having a hard time pinpointing the locations of perpetrators however when asked to expound on the method used, she declined to share that information.
She wishes not to divulge any further information on the system used to combat this issue because once published, the perpetrators will become aware of its workings, she said.
Sanichara urged that customers be on alert and reiterated that they be more cognisant.
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