Don’t you just hate all the modus operandi and scams people do to gain a small amount of income? It’s low, annoying and downright stupid.
Anyway, I was sitting comfortably in front of my PC, writing my next article for When In Manila when my phone starts to vibrate. An unknown number appears to be calling, and so I answer. The call is from cellphone number 09152993827.
The Call and Instructions:
The guy introduces himself as one of Globe’s representatives. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch his name. So he tells me that he is at an event at SM North and that they are giving away 500 GCs for SM to Globe Postpaid users. I don’t believe him but I keep him on the line anyway to hear what he has to say. He tells me that before he can give me the GC, he needs to verify the call first. He then says that I should receive a message from 2800 regarding the verification PIN and he wants me to dictate this to him.
Immediately after he says this, I receive a text from 2800.
This is what it says:Â
Pincode MT. Zong. Enter PIN 8152 on the web to continue. Zong will bill you P500.00. For more info, text ZONG_HELP. Help: 1-800-1-116-1100
and then another text saying:
Thanks, Zong has charged P500.00 to your phone bill. For more info, text ZONG_HELP. Txn code: BR34FJ. Help: 1-800-1-116-1100
Afterward, thinking that the message came from him, I went on and dictated the pin. He then tells me that there will be a total of 5 texts that he will send because they really need to make sure. So I receive 4 more texts similar to the one above but with a different pin. He tells me not to worry as they will be the one paying the 500 pesos and not me. I failed to analyze that and just continued.
I was receiving these messages while we were talking and he was really very polite so he was slowly trying to make me believe him. I wasn’t able to analyze the texts either because we both wanted to just get it over with quickly.It was only later that I realized I was already falling for this guy’s scam.
The Final Step
After I dictated the last pin, he tells me that all 5 pins are correct and have been verified. There’s just one final step before I can receive the GC and this is where I finally came to my senses.
He told me to get a pen and paper and copy the reference number, which I did.
Reference number: 29152993827
Afterward, he asked me type 500 and send it to the reference number. What a smart way to say it! Instead of telling me to send it to that number, he told me to send it to the reference number.
That’s when we hang up. I used to be a pre-paid user so I know that when you replace the 0 at the beginning of a number to 2, you are already sharing load. The reference number he gave was actually his own number. In short, he wanted me to send him 500 peso load.
Confirming with Globe
And so before doing anything else, I called up Globe. I spoke with a lady named CJ and she confirmed that there was no promo as such. She also told me that they have already received several complaints from that scammer. I asked her about the 500 that will be billed to me from 2800, she promised that it will not be billed and if ever it does reflect in the future, I can always inform them so we could fix it. I will wait for my bill and call them again… for sure!
Beware
The scammer tried calling again after I did not respond, I wanted to ride along and play with him but I was just too busy. So beware people! I have no idea how he was able to send me texts from 2800 – which really made it all more believable. Before falling for anything like this, call the company involved first.
