Maseru — Econet Telecom Lesotho says it is working with police to track down an individual suspected of defrauding the company's subscribers through a fake promotional scheme.

The company's Public Relations Manager, Mr. Retselisitsoe Nkhahle, said the investigation follows reports that an unknown caller has been contacting Econet customers, falsely claiming they have won prizes in the company's 'Re 'Moja' campaign.

According to Mr. Nkhahle, the suspect allegedly tricks victims into revealing information that can be used to gain access to their EcoCash accounts by manipulating them into calculating or disclosing their Personal Identification Number (PIN).

He warned subscribers that no Econet employee will ever call customers to request information that could reveal their PIN or assist them in winning any promotion.

He urged customers to treat such calls as fraudulent and never disclose confidential banking or mobile money information over the phone.

Mr. Nkhahle said the matter has been reported to the police and that every effort is being made to identify and apprehend the suspect.

He added that although the phone number allegedly used in the scam appears to be registered in someone's name, the individual whose details were used denied owning the number when contacted by the company, raising suspicions that fraudulent registration may have been involved.

Several Econet subscribers have reported receiving calls from the number 63799488, with the caller falsely claiming to be from the company's head office.

The caller allegedly informed customers that they had won 20 gigabytes of mobile data and a M2,000 grocery voucher after receiving a call from 117. However, before claiming the supposed prizes, victims were instructed to answer a series of questions.

According to the reports, the caller instructed subscribers to perform a number of calculations, including adding together the first four digits of their mobile phone number and multiplying the result by two.

The caller then allegedly asked them to multiply their EcoCash PIN by two and disclose the answer, a tactic believed to have been intended to determine the original PIN.

One of the targeted subscribers said she deliberately provided an incorrect answer.

Moments later, she received a notification warning that someone was attempting to tamper with her EcoCash PIN, reinforcing her suspicion that the call was part of a fraud attempt.