Batelco, Bahrain’s leading telecommunications provider, 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 international 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 statement said.

“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 and requesting personal information such as name, bank account details and CPR numbers to arrange payment of the money,” said Batelco’s group general manager media relations Ahmed Al Janahi.

“We strongly advise our customers that these are fraudulent calls. Batelco will never ask for bank account details, passwords or any personal details of this nature,” he stressed.

Batelco issued similar warnings in May and July of this year alerting its customers to hoax calls offering large cash prizes, coming from local Bahrain numbers, he said.

“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, he added. – TradeArabia News Service