Make Tk2,000 in 5 mins? New phone call scam emerges in Bangladesh
It starts with a phone call from a local number.
The voice on the other end is clearly foreign – the accent itself is a dead giveaway that you are speaking to an Asian person.
"Hello. Are you interested in making a thousand dollars a day with a remote working job?" The voice asks quickly.
No introductions are made, no further formalities exchanged.
If you say no, the call is instantly cut.
If you express an eagerness, then you are sent a Whatsapp message.
A social media user, who continued the exchanges, said the Whatsapp message would soon switch to a Telegram channel.
The user was offered Tk100 for subscribing to different Youtube Channels.
Afterwards, he was offered a deal: invest either Tk2,600, Tk3,200, Tk6,400 and so on till around Tk8 lakh and get double the money back.
If he did not take the opportunity, he would no longer be paid for subscribing to any videos.
He was then given a Bkash merchant number for the transaction. That's when he thought this could be a scam.
Experts also say such phone calls for a phishing scam and used to glean information from people. Armed with a full name, mother's name, date of birth and a phone number, scammers can do a lot of damage.
Others warned that the phone calls can be used to record and then Deepfake a person's voice for other purposes.