Don’t Fall for this SCAM of Commercial Bank Giveaways for its 53rd Anniversary!

දිනපතා සත්‍ය කරුණු දැන ගැනීමට අපගේ WhatsApp සමුහයටමෙතනින් එකතුවන්න.

Fake messages, gifts, and scams are not new to Sri Lankan social media users. However, despite being constantly warned, people still fall prey to these frequent scams disguised alongside attractive offers. This is our investigation regarding such a scam targeting the Commercial Bank of Sri Lanka.

Social Media Posts

Viral messages, especially on messaging platforms and to a lesser extent on Facebook, claimed that Commercial Bank, on behalf of its 53^rd Anniversary, had launched a National Government Subsidy program. The users stood a chance to win rewards by filling out a questionnaire.

Facebook| Archived

We did a fact-check as the general public is keen on the issue.

Fact Check

First, we tried to find related social forwards which claim to give cash gifts to commemorate the Commercial Bank’s 53^rd anniversary.

So, we found several links that direct users to the same website. Those links are mainly shared via WhatsApp.

When social media users click these links, they go through several steps. Finally, there is a step to share the link with several other users via social media, a ploy used by similar fraudsters and scammers.

And Commercial Bank of Sri Lanka warned its customers not to become victims of such fraud. They emphasized that if the bank wanted to inform customers about cash gifts, they do it using their official communication handles and not from fraudulent websites. Hence, they advised the public to refrain from providing sensitive information to such fraudsters.

Their statement is below.

Here are some tips from Factcrescendo to stay safe from such online phishing scams

Here are some more tips to stay safe from other online scams.

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Conclusion

The WhatsApp forward related to 53^rd-anniversary cash gifts from Commercial Bank is fraud and not actual. Commercial Bank emphasized that they would not do such promotions via unofficial channels like this and requested customers not to click links or enter sensitive information.