A scam that gets money transferred to unknown accounts by falsely claiming that prizes have been won.

The Police Media Division has issued a special public notice on January 18, 2026, regarding financial frauds committed by organized criminals using social media and phone calls. Scams involving deceiving individuals and extorting money by promising foreign or local job opportunities, claiming lottery winnings, or making false threats of legal action, have been reported to police stations island-wide.

Investigations have revealed that such fraudsters steal highly sensitive data such as bank account information, passwords, OTP numbers, and PIN numbers using tactics like internet links, malicious extensions, and QR codes. The police state that the Mirihana Special Crimes Investigation Unit has recently received several complaints regarding a group of fraudsters impersonating bank officials and contacting account holders.

These fraudsters make phone calls to intimidate account holders by claiming that money related to drug trafficking has been credited to their bank accounts. It has been observed that they severely frighten and terrorize account holders, then manipulate them into transferring those funds to other accounts provided by the fraudsters.

To protect against such fraudulent activities, the police strongly urge the public not to provide National Identity Card numbers, bank account information, OTP or PIN numbers to any third party, and to avoid accessing suspicious links. They also advise verifying the identity of relevant parties before depositing money. If there is any information regarding a fraud, it can be reported to the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, or to the Mirihana Special Crimes Investigation Unit at 011-2852556, 075-3994214, or to the Computer Crime Investigation Division at 011-2300638, 011-2381375 and 011-2381058.