I hate it when the doorbell and telephone ring at the same time. Occasionally my children demand attention at that very moment as well, but thankfully, this time it was just the doorbell and the cell-phone. As soon I got to the phone after checking the door, I was in for a surprise.
“Hi Ma’am!” said a bright voice.
“Yes?” I replied.
“This is Samir from the Etisalat office. We would like to inform you that you have just won AED 200,000 in a lucky draw. Your sim card is the lucky winner out of hundreds of thousands of entries,” he said enthusiastically.
Etisalat, as most people know is the telecommunications company in the UAE and like most phone companies, they also keep having the odd lucky draw. But being the typically street-smart Pakistani that I am, I replied exasperatedly, “Yeah, so?”
The man took this reaction of mine like a personal insult and said, in an almost desperate tone, “Ma’am, you’ve just won 200,000 Dirhams! You can collect the money at the nearest Etisalat office if you just take down your gift number. Now can I have your good name please?”
“Tell me the location of the office first, then I’ll tell you my name,” I said half-interested, in spite of myself. He gave me a number that he insisted should be the same as the one written in fine-print on my sim-card, because apparently, my sim was ‘the lucky winner’.
“Switch off your phone, take your sim out and match the number written on it with the number I have given you. If they are the same, you are lucky one. Then call me back,” he advised.
It all sounded quite pretty, save for the fact that ‘Samir from Etisalat’ was calling from his personal cell-phone. Since when did companies start telling their staff to make corporate from their own cell-phones? Plainly out of curiosity, I switched off my phone and matched the number the man had given me with the one on my sim. The number he had given me was incomplete, but the digits that he had supplied tallied with mine. Sure that this was a scam, I dialled the number of the actual Etisalat office.
When I was finally connected to a customer-service representative, I said, “I received a call from someone claiming to be an Etisalat employee. Are you guys having some kind of a lucky draw for 200,000 Dirhams?” The man on the other end, presumably an Arab (judging by th accent – lahja) seemed quite appalled at the idea of handing over 200,000 Dirhams to someone for no good reason. He confirmed my suspicion that it was indeed a scam and promised to take action against the person who had tried to dupe me, after taking down his number.
Just goes to show you have people trying to fool others in practically every country, but I do hope action will be taken. Imagine, if Etisalat actually called the guy:
Etisalat: Hello, This is So-n-so from Etisalat
Trickster: That’s right. This is Samir from Etisalat.
E: NO I’m from Etisalat.
T: No I’m from Etisalat! In fact we have a promotion, just check your sim card…. Err.. you mean you’re from Etisalat – the real one?
E: Until further notice your number has been blocked due to undesirable activity. Thank you. Good bye.
ME: evil grin + dark laugh.
Conclusion: Fun as it may sound, the idea that you won 200,000 dirhams is a big huge scam. You’re getting nothing, nada, zilch. Except perhaps a dirty look from your spouse who says you’ve been wasting too much time exploring your phone and sim and searching the net for that one confirmation that you are the proud owner of some cool, hard cash. So please remember: THIS IS A SCAM!
…and guess what, a lot of these calls are made by Pakistani’s! . I have received such calls from Dubai,Pakistan….and i just laugh! The guys in their heavily accented Punjabi urdu sound morons the minute they say hello…..why are so many Pakistani’s involved in sham business?
I am an Indian and would love to hear from you.
Hey saifi, welcome to the blog.
It’s a sad reality I guess. I want Pakistanis to be known by better things, not cheating. Sigh.
Dear Etisalat i received a phone call from a man saying i have won 200 000 dirhams and he asked me to call him back and he gave me the last five digits of my sim card, then he said i must buy etisalat recharge voucher for 1500dirhams and give him the voucher number ,he also informed me to stay on hold while i go and buy the voucher, i thought it was suspicious and still on hold i checked on the internet if etisalat is running such promotions only to find a lot of warning scams, please people be careful……..
Exactly the same experience today for me! Mustafa from etisalat financial center offer me to pay 2750 dh of etisalat recharge to win 200.000 Dh … No comment very good story with a lot of detail like : you will receive your money from sheik … From DIB !
Be careful this scam is still running !
Yep, these guys just don’t seem to tire. Thanks for letting us know and visiting the blog!
It is the same all over the globe. Some organisation in South Africa (about 15.000 km from my frontdoor) promised me a large amount of US dollars if I should cooperate via my bank account to transfer milions of dolars to bank accounts somewhere in Africa. My share… up to 15% per transaction. It was a very profitable business. Nowbody knows… except you, dear readers, that the Burj Dubai Tower is mine.
Do not further publish this without my permission on any blog or other web
Haha sure!! As one of the first people to find out about your share in the building I see it only fitting that you reward me one floor! Lol
the cellar
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Hahah… Yeap, still running…i just receive the call…but i knew what is it all about. I had a great fun with him…i told him: Yea, that’s great…thanks, but i don’t have any money with me, my wallet is in my friends place…and he was trying to get any amount from me…and at the end he asked, ok how much u can pay for wasel top up card?…50aed i said..ok, ok, u can pay the rest when u come to collect the money… I said, bro…u allready spent 50 for this call, can’t u see there’s no point with me….find someone else..hahaha
i think he just want to practice his english
Haha, now that’s a fun thing to do!
Oh, we’ve got just that sort of trickster in huge numbers here too! Rotten! Glad you weren’t duped!
Thanks! It really is sad..
Very amusing Mehmudah…. between us, I and my daughter have won nearly half a dozen plots and thousands of dollars in lucky draws….. but for the plot it is always the last date and we have to deposit any amount ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 in so and so bank account immediately…. or fr the lucky draw you have to give away sensitive information about yr bank account so that the money is transferred to it…. Old wine, new bottle! They keep on inventing new ways to trick naive people.. thank God that we are too Pakka Pakistanis to be hoodwinked easily!!!
today i got a call from 0563651214. he saying i selected as a lucky winner and the worth of 2,200dhs i got.
he given me a 5 digit number and asked me to check weather it is on your sim or not. he called me after 5 min , asked me “did u check that or not”/
I asked him the address of etisalat for enquiry but
he cut my call.
oh than i should thank God as this moron had said 100,000 dirhams ,less chances of heart failure hehe. anyway when he said you have won this amount i said good so what you want me to do? he said nothing madam (it was some pathan bhai sahab) said we would like you to come and collect your cash i simply replied keep that in your pocket you need that more than me..surely he felt insulted and even before he could say something else i hung up on him,,silly losers these guys are, got nothing better to do with their lives.
I experienced the same scam today from +971-506-903-705 , for 200,000 aed, transfered through Western Union in my own country. He tried to make things fast, so prompted to act immediately in whatever he was saying. The story matches with all of the above descriptions. Take care.
Great informative post..The same thing is happening here in California .( you won a cruise give us your credit card no.)THank you for liking my post A letter to my son. Be well Mehmuda..Best regards.jalal
I remember telling one guy to keep the money for himself and buy a ticket to haj to make tawbah. And the second call I got, I told him to keep the money and send it to his mother and sisters back in pakistan.
It’s funny how silly their plan is to scam people. The first thing they say is “Hello madam, urdu or arabi or english?”
HAHAHAHA!
OMG, Like, that was a genius answer! That’s really cool and witty
Welcome to my blog, I hope to see you around!