Batelco, the leading telecom provider in Bahrain, has issued a warning to its customers to be on the alert regarding a spate of fraudulent calls informing customers that they have won a large sum of money.

The calls are being generated from a variety of Bahrain mobile numbers. A small number of Batelco’s customers have been in touch with the company to enquire about the validity of the information.

“A number of Batelco’s customers have received calls or missed calls. The callers are using Batelco’s name and advising our customers that they have won a big cash prize and informing them that they need to transfer a sum of money to them in order to collect this prize,” said Batelco’s Group general manager Media Relations Ahmed Al Janahi.

“The caller also asks for details about the number on the customers Sim card and other information.”

“We strongly advise our customers that these are fraudulent calls. Batelco will never ask for such information like this,” he added.

Batelco issued several similar warnings last year and again early this year alerting its customers to hoax calls offering large cash prizes.

“Furthermore, Batelco has issued many previous warnings to customers regarding fraudulent text messages and emails. Typically these messages ask for information about customers’ user names and passwords but these recent messages try to attract people by the promise of a big cash prize.”

“Customers should be aware that such calls announcing that they have won money are fraudulent. We advise anyone who receives such calls to either ignore them or report the incident to our 196 Helpdesk,” added Al Janahi.

Batelco always uses a professional process to contact its customers to inform them when they have won a prize and the customer would always be invited to Batelco’s Hamala headquarters or a Batelco retail shop to collect any prize in person, Al Janahi said. – TradeArabia News Service