CBSL warns public to beware of financial scams

The Central Bank (CBSL) this week warned the public to beware of financial scams.

In a statement, CBSL said it has been receiving information regarding certain scams, where organised parties seem to be claiming that they have large amounts of foreign and/or local currency credited to their accounts which have been temporarily blocked and that they would pay handsome amounts to any person who can assist in unblocking such amounts.

Sometimes they also present forged documentation that shows large sums of money had been credited to various accounts and they only need to get the approval of the Central Bank to withdraw such monies.

In some of these instances, the fraudsters request account details from the customers, including details of credit/debit cards, such as Personal Identification Number (PIN), Card Verification Value (CVV), One-Time Passwords (OTP), and user ID passwords and OTPs of mobile/internet banking in order to proceed with the transactions. Needless to say, furnishing such details place those customers at grave financial peril.

CBSL urges the public to disregard such fraudulent notifications and practices, and strongly advises all persons to be watchful of these scams. 

CBSL also advises all persons not to share their confidential information, especially account usernames, passwords, PINs, OTPs, or other information required for account verification, with anyone. Further, the CBSL requests the public to obtain real-time notification services, such as SMS alerts, from their banks, so that they would become instantly aware of any fraudulent activity that takes place using their accounts.