Beware: Fraudsters Use SMS Spoofing to Target Mobile Users with Fake Prizes

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Above screen shows an SMS — received by at least two of our of ProPakistani readers — which claims that receiver of the SMS has won a bumper prize of Rs. 1,000,000 or Rs. 1 million and they need to contact some guy named Faisal Qareem to claim prize money and so on.

Message is received from TELENOR PK intriguing the receiver that this is some kind of official communication from Telenor and that this announcement of prize is officially from the company.

However, it is not.

While we have repeatedly written about such lottery frauds, SMS frauds and similar activities in the past, the idea of SMS spoofing has now become a new tool for the fraudsters to victimize innocent souls.

Our readers would know that SMS Spoofing is a way of sending message with any desired Senders’ number or even a Name, such as Telenor PK or Ufone or anything. Read one of our previous articles to know more about SMS Spoofing, how it works and how to detect a Spoofed message.

But just imagine a situation where this message is received by relatively unaware and resource-less individual in a far flung area of the country, it is very likely that he is going to call back on the number given in the text message.

Soon after calling the number, it is highly likely that he will get trapped as fraudsters will not only convince him on the fact that this message is officially from the company but will also convince the person that he has indeed won a Million rupees and that his life is about to get changed.

But before that victim will have to deposit some amount into an account or send it through Easypaisa/Mobicash as a processing fee for the prize money to be sent to the supposed winner.

After depositing this money (that can range from Rs. 2,500 to anything around Rs. 25,000 or even more) the fraudsters will never respond your call/messages or they will never revert back and you will end up with nothing but with a loss of money.

How to Detect a Fake Prize Call/SMS

  • First thing, you can’t win anything unless you have participated in it, be it a lucky draw, contest or anything, but you should have participated in something to win it. So simply discard any unannounced lottery prizes where you never participated
  • No company in this world will ask you for processing fee if the prize is real or legitimate. Simply discard or ignore such calls/SMS that end up asking for a processing fee.
  • Contact the official numbers of the respective company to counter check any of such prizes, that is 345 for Telenor, 333 for Ufone and so on.

We know this is how it works, but unfortunately there are millions of people who still don’t know this and they easily get trapped through such fake prizes.

What PTA Should Do Against Such Fake Prizes?

Now is the high-time for our government to introduce fraud control systems, that are capable of sensing the fraud messages. This is very much possible and in fact PTA once asked operators to deploy such systems to check obnoxious and marketing messages.

PTA should work in-line with the operators to make sure that such fraud SMS aren’t delivered to mobile phone subscribers.

PTA should also start an awareness campaign to communicate the masses about such frauds. But just print ads won’t do much. PTA will have to come up with workshops, seminars, social media campaigns, story telling on radio, awareness dramas serials and so on to reach the people that are least connected with the national communication grid.

Your Role in Curbing Fraudsters

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Well @aamir7:disqus
    Aside with the Fraud from these Alone Working Culprits ,Telcos are also Responsible in this
    Almost all Telcos are providing Bulk SMS Online Service,Allowing Any SMS Contents to be sent to a huge numbers list.One can use any Mask (Even TELENOR,MOBILINK Official Name) .
    Not any company Checks weather these sms are sent with receiver’s Intent or not

  • One of the biggest spammer mistake in the world is that they don’t known grammar rule.That’s why, we can identify them.

    • per bhai meray un ka target woah nahi jin ki grammar theek hai, un ka target to woahi log hain jin ki khud ki english achee nahi :-) aur aysay hi log un ke jaal main phanstay hain

      I wrote in Urdu to avoid my grammar mistakes :-)

    • aaj kal unka target Nowshera hai to aap wahan kay logon main awareness compaign chalaen kal say

  • A Good solution to check either it was sent from company is to check the “Message Centre” of that particular sms. Typically these sms are sent from websites which allow users to change Sender ID. If there is a “Message Center” from +44xxxx or something like an international number, it’s a fake sms.

    • Yeah! You are right. I don’t know, why our media say that it’s impossible to detect fake SMS. There are many ways to identify fake SMS, our media could help.

    • Not really, Zong always use its own SMSC instead of sender. So zong users should not trust SMSC information.

  • PTA Now Blocking S3.xually Explict Words In Google, Bing & Yahoo Search.
    I.E. S.3x, V4.gina, Pu.$$y, C.0c k. ETC
    Last Night I Was Searching: Is It Safe To Eat V4.gina & It Showed Me The Page Saying “This Type Of Content Is Blocked In Pakistan”.

    • They can’t block it if you’re using Google on https like encrypted.google on (unless you’re browsing on Opera Mini browser, which passes even secure sites through an unsecured connection).

      • Yes Then I Installed Opera Mini & Searched It Again, This Time It Worked!!
        BTW It’s Safe To Eat A V4.gina If Your Partner Doesn’t Have STD’s And/Or Is On Her P4eriod!!
        Again Don’t Judge Me, Just Gathering Information!!

        • Um, okay, that was…enlightening. But I think you missed Saleem’s point. He said that they *would* be able to block it if you’re using Opera Mini since it uses an unsecure channel for everything.

          • I Got It Wrong, I Was On Phone Last Night. Safari Didn’t Open What I Searched For Then I Installed Opera Mini And It Worked.
            Opera Mini Uses VPN Type Sh8t, It Takes Request To It’s Server Compresses The Web Page Then Sends It Back To User. It’s 10x Faster Than Any Browser!!

            • I use Opera Mini on my phone. It is a tad faster than stock Android browser but it doesn’t use VPN. I can’t access Youtube on my Opera Mini.

  • Inaam ghar he aik real program tha jo prizes deta tha real main

  • Unfortunately Telecos are not helping to stop fraud or nuisance calls. I called them to complain and they got back with their package which can block calls and sms. This was not a solution I was looking for, they must have taken that number off or alteast warn them but they didnt.

  • I receive one such message everyday at least. Now that all SIMS are verified (supposedly) why doesnt PTA and Telco’s take action against these numbers

  • ALLAH k neak bandoo agar bewaqoof banana hi hy to spelling ki galti to mt kro es lye to khtay hain na naqal mn aqal ki zarorat hoti hy


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