–GTT warns customers

THE Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) is again warning the public against being duped by scammers claiming to have promotional phone or top-up cards for sale.
“Be Alert! GTT does not have any promotion which requires you to buy phone cards or top-up to win prizes. All such calls are scams; Say No!” Company Public Relations Officer, Nadia De Abreu warned Tuesday.
The company had earlier in the year sent out similar text messages to their clients stating, “Don’t be fooled! GTT does not have any back-to-school quiz or any other ‘promo’ requiring you to top up anyone’s phone to win prizes. Report calls to the police… Any such call is a scam.”
Reached by telephone yesterday, several persons admitted receiving calls from persons claiming to be representatives of GTT and to have won themselves a trip to the Kaieteur Falls, and that in order for one to participate in the process, they would need to send credit to a specific number.
Ms De Abreu said when such cases are reported, the company de-activates the delinquent numbers after investigations.
Guyanese across the country have been victims of the scam that has defrauded many of huge sums of cash as the wave of cell-phone scams continue.
One customer, who asked to remain anonymous, said her sister was called early one morning and told that she was the winner of $600,000. The woman said that the person on the other end of the line, a man, indicated that in order to claim the prize, her sister would need to purchase $10,000 in credit and message the number from the cards to a specific telephone number.
That done, the man said she would receive two messages; one to confirm that the credit was received, and another to provide a code to uplift the prize money. The caller also asked for the woman’s national identification number.
Other victims reported that they also received calls from Digicel-assigned numbers and sold similar promotions.