Easypaisa is one of the most widely used platforms that is used to send, receive, and save money in a virtual wallet.
By Sayyed Shehzer Abbas
The digital payment services have witnessed a sudden spike during lockdown when people are relying on cashless banking and avoiding going out. However, with every good service comes scammers, who are taking advantage of the over usage of such digital services, try to misguide people.
There are so many examples in Pakistan when good things have turned in to disasters thanks to the hackers and spammers who are extra smart than the cyber department keeping an eye on such activities. Previously it was Benazir Income Support Program which lost its charm due to the frauds associated with it, then came the Jeeto Pakistan scam, and now it’s Easypaisa’s turn. Many people would have become a victim of this Easypaisa Fraud.
According to reports, a consumer received a message last week from an unknown number that claims to be about a transaction of money to his account. The message was on the same format resembling the format of messages received from 3737, the official number of Easypaisa. It was all a confusion at first until the consumer received a call from a person who told that he is very poor and accidentally he has added his number (Easypaisa account) due to which the money has come to his account. It seemed to be real but then the person started asking for a code that he received on his phone. The person insisted him to send the code so that he can get his money back. The code was eventually an OTP for resetting the password. Easypaisa does provide its customers with a helpline number but surprisingly its never working. The calls are never picked by their customer care representatives and eventually the consumers are not able to contact Easypaisa and report to such scams.
Many other Easypaisa customers have been scammed the same way and not all are educated enough to read and rethink on the overall situation. If someone is getting scammed or already scammed there is no way they can get in contact with Easypaisa which is causing a negative impact on the reputation of the company. Easypaisa was initially launched for those people who don’t have bank accounts and might not be that much educated. According to the company, most of their clients are poor people belonging from vulnerable backgrounds, and due to easy of usage, they have shifted to Easypaisa.
Easypaisa have faced many scams like this before too and responded to such activities:
“Scammers are getting smart, and so should we!
Dear customers, never give out your personal information like your OTP, PIN Code, and ID card number to any person from any non-secure numbers.
In case that ever happens, be sure to raise your concerns to us.”