Police issue guidelines amidst surge in financial scams

The general public has been once again requested to exercise extreme caution when using social media platforms owing to a surge in financial scams online.

Sri Lanka Police issued a warning following a noticeable increase in financial crimes targeting citizens through various social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram.

These scams frequently involve perpetrators promising employment opportunities, donations or filing false claims, while discouraging victims from seeking legal recourse, ultimately enabling the unauthorized transfer of funds from the victims’ accounts, the Police Headquarters noted.

Investigations have revealed perpetrators use sophisticated techniques to obtain confidential information such as account numbers, passwords, One-Time Passwords (OTPs) and QR codes, including through internet-based long-distance or scanned code transactions.

In certain cases, individuals posing as bank employees have contacted account holders to obtain sensitive banking information, subsequently coercing them into transferring funds. Fraudsters have at times falsely claimed that funds from drug traffickers were involved, instructing account holders to deposit such monies into other accounts controlled by the criminals, police noted. Reports of such incidents have been lodged with the Mirihana Special Crimes Investigation Unit as well as the Padukka Police Station.

Therefore, Police have reiterated that prior advisories issued to the public and urged to comply with following measures:

• Confirm the authenticity of verified social media pages and official accounts.
• Refrain from disclosing bank details, NIC numbers, login credentials, OTPs, passwords, PINs, or personal photographs to any third party.
• Avoid interacting with suspicious links or unverified communications.
• Conduct transactions exclusively with trusted and verified accounts.
• Verify the identity of all recipients prior to initiating any financial transfers.
• Immediately report any suspected fraudulent activity to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Police.

Members of the general public who possess information regarding such scams are urged to contact the following offices:

• Mirihana Special Crimes Investigation Unit: 011-2852556
• Officer in Charge / Mirihana SCU: 075-3994214
• Deputy Director / Computer Crimes Investigation Unit: 011-2300638
• Private Assistant / Computer Crimes Investigation Unit: 011-2381375
• Officer in Charge / Computer Crimes Investigation Unit: 011-2381058

Police also emphasized the importance of adherence to the guidelines to safeguard personal and financial security against such fraudulent schemes.