By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

Sri Lanka Customs yesterday warned the public to be aware of a spate of financial frauds and such fraudsters who act like Customs officials and ask to transfer money to unknown bank accounts to clear goods and gifts that may reach individuals through their social media accounts. Customs Spokesman and Additional Director General Sudaththa Silva told the Daily Mirror yesterday that their hotlines were overflowing with public complaints in the past few weeks regarding instances where individuals were deceived to have transferred money to clear gifts and goods falsely sent to them by overseas consigners.

“In many instances, many people have transferred up to Rs.50,000 – Rs.75,000 or Rs.100,000 through unknown bank accounts as advised to them by fraudsters who had acted like officials from the Sri Lanka Customs.

These fraudsters, who reach unsuspecting individuals through their social media accounts mostly on Facebook, tell that they have won a gift or a lottery amounting to thousands of dollars. And when the individuals show their keenness to claim the goods, they are being contacted by strangers who claim themselves to be Customs officials and ask to pay huge amounts as Customs clearance charges,” the spokesman said.

“It is sad how people fall for these scams nowadays and transfer such huge amounts of money without even checking twice where their money would end up. I have received over 50 complaints from my personal database of friends, students and acquaintances who have fallen prey to these fraudsters. They simply contact me to get help in tracking their gift once they have already paid money to fraudsters.

These fraudsters operate through a range of methods, like calling and telling that a person had received a package from a friend or relative abroad and to make a payment to clear it from Customs. Some may operate through dating sites to deceive a young woman or a man by asking to transfer cash to clear a gift sent from the partner. And in some cases the fraudsters have offered services to find jobs and domestic aides by asking to deposit money to unknown bank accounts,” Mr. Silva said.

He said the SL Customs never ask to deposit money to unknown bank accounts or call any individual to do so. If there was such a suspicious caller asked to transfer money immediately complain it to the nearest Police Station.

“These scams had been going around in Colombo and suburbs for the past decade or so, and many investigations had led to Nigerians operating in Sri Lanka being responsible. But the latest probes have revealed that even numerous locals were also involved with the technology advancing with social media, online payment facilities etc,” he further said.