Nov 12, Colombo: The Sri Lanka Police is making a special request to the public not to fall for misleading phone calls. The police also requested the people to provide information regarding such calls to the police.

The police say that in the last few days, many cases of money fraud by fake phone calls have been reported.

It has been reported that recently fraudsters are engaging in money-making scams by making panic-inducing calls to various people’s mobile phones and instruct them to deposit money.

According to the police, there were cases where some people have been fooled by the fake calls and deposited various amounts of money instantly without any inquiries into the callers’ bank accounts.

The police said the scammers make calls falsely informing that child fallen ill, person having a sudden heart attack or being involved in a car accident.

Calls have been made to the relatives as well as the heads of the workplaces and they have been informed to deposit the money in the bank accounts directed by the callers.

There have also been cases where money of various values was immediately deposited by panicked people without any inquiries into the telephone calls made by fraudulent persons.

In one instance, a person claimed to be a doctor has made a phone call informing a parent in Seeduwa that his son was admitted to the hospital due to a sudden illness and the child needs emergency surgery and instructed the parent to deposit Rs. 200,000 to a bank account number provided by the caller.

However, the person who received the phone call had called his son and learned that there was no health emergency and he was not hospitalized. Realizing it’s a scam, the parent has informed the Seeduwa police.

There were several other similar cases where people have received calls informing them that their children have been hospitalized and require emergency surgery.

Therefore, the police inform the public to pay special attention to fake phone calls made by fraudulent individuals or groups to deceive people and avoid giving money or valuable property to such scammers.