Woman conned into transferring phone credit worth Dh3,000.

The phone recharge scam is back in the UAE, with swindlers preying on gullible victims through a new modus operandi.

They are now using more than just persuasive talks to make potential victims believe they have won big lotteries, for which the latter need to transfer phone credit.

The swindlers are now even sending photos of cheques (obviously forged ones) to convince their preys.

The new modus operandi came to light after an Al Ain-based Pakistani housewife was conned into transferring phone credit worth Dh3,000 on Monday.

Amina Imran, who is expecting her fifth child, told Khaleej Times the man who called her introduced himself as Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim, a senior manager with etisalat. "He said I had won a big prize from etisalat and my number was being flashed on Dubai TV channels. Initially I didn't want to entertain him as I knew of similar scams and I myself had received a similar call over a year ago."

However, she said this time the caller sounded genuine. She said the man told her she had won Dh250,000 cash in a raffle from etisalat. "He said there was an additional prize of an iPhone and Dh36,000 in cash from Emirates NBD and Dubai Expo as part of a National Day raffle.

"He asked for my Emirates ID card number, saying he could send a copy of the cheque on WhatsApp."

The woman said she fell for the offer when she got a WhatsApp message containing a pin number purportedly from an etisalat SMS service and an image of the cheque in her full name - exactly as it is in her Emirates ID. While he called from the number 056-8762461, the WhatsApp message came from 050-9306621, she said.

"The cheque of Dh286,700 from Dubai Islamic Bank had the logos of etisalat, Dubai Expo and Emirates NBD. The seal stamped in the place of signature in the cheque read Sheikh Mohammed," said Amina, who forwarded the photo of the cheque to Khaleej Times.

The cheque bore the stamp "Non-negotiable A/C payee only". It also had a few mistakes in the denomination of the prize amount written in letters.

Amina said the man kept talking to her for nearly two hours. "He finally convinced me that I had actually won the prize. When I expressed doubts about the cheque bouncing, he said he would be sending two female staff for handing over the prize in cash to me.

"Then he said I would have to transfer Dh3,000 worth of etisalat recharge codes to him as the final procedure."

Once Amina shared the codes, the caller asked her to wait for his staff and hung up. Further calls to the con man's number by Amina and Khaleej Times went unanswered.

Amina said she was in a state of depression. "I want to know why such people can't be tracked and their numbers can't be blocked since all the numbers have to be registered and linked to Emirates ID."

sajila@khaleejtimes.com