I TRIED to use my Easypaisa account on April 19, but it got blocked temporarily. Upon contacting the helpline, I was informed that my mobile number has been blocked for seven days.

This gave the fraudulent staff a chance to peep into my account and force me into a trap. On April 29, I received calls from two different Telenor numbers, pretending to be Easypaisa representatives and informing me that my account would soon be suspended for five years if I did not perform a transaction immediately. Resultantly, an amount of Rs41,500 was transferred.

Then they compelled me to share the one-time password (OTP) with them to blame me for leaking the confidential information myself.

The reality is that the staff already had access to my account, knew my account balance and other important information.

I request the management and the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate action to fix the loopholes in the system.

Atiqa Gul
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2021