Online scams proliferating in Arakan State

By Admin 17 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
17 August 2023, Sittwe

An increase in online scams has been reported in Arakan State, including phishing text messages sent to phones to deceive people into giving their banking information.

People who have fallen victim to online scams often receive text messages or phone calls pretending to be from mobile wallets like KBZ Pay and Wave Money, which ask for personal information, under the pretence of providing improvement of their service or security upgrades.

“I received a phone call from someone who described himself as a manager from KBZ Bank. He said he had sent a code to my phone to upgrade the security of my KBZ Pay account, and told me to send back the code. When I sent back the code, they stole all 300,000 kyats from my account,” said a Kyaukphyu resident.

In other cases of online scams, people receive a text message or a phone call and are told that they have won a gift or prize.

Ma Phyu Phyu Win from Kyaukphyu said: “I received a text message that someone had transferred 800,000 kyats via Wave Money. They called me a few minutes later and said I have won a jackpot with my phone number, and told me to transfer 10,000 kyats as a money transfer fee. I did as they told, and only realised later that it was a scam.”

Kanbawza Bank issued a notice on August 12, warning people that scammers have made fake KBZ Bank accounts on social media platforms like Facebook, Viber, Telegram and Messenger, as well as using phone SMS, to cheat people out of their money.

Rural residents are especially targeted for scams, according to online money transfer agents.

The owner of Shwe Ponnami, an online money transfer service in Pauktaw Township, said: “Scammers have even attempted to deceive us. We received phishing phone calls recently.”

Banks and money transfer services have warned people not to share their passwords with anyone, and to avoid clicking text messages that include potentially malicious links. Online scams have reportedly increased in Myanmar since the February 2021 coup.