Fact Check: KBC lottery promising Rs 25 lakh is fake, can be traced to Pakistan

Guwahati: The 10th season of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), one of India’s most popular game shows, is all set to air from September 3. It will run between Monday and Friday at 9 am. However, a fake SMS about the game show is doing the round on Twitter and it’s only a matter of time for anyone to fall prey to the scam.

The message says in Hindi, “There is good news for you, and your number has won the lottery of 25 lakhs from Kaun Banega Maha Crorepati and to get the lottery you need to contact Rana Pratap Singh -0017726175812.”

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User Aakash Shah was the first one to alert Mumbai Police on Twitter by saying, “Fake people are calling WhatApp call and saying you won KBC lottery of 25 lakhs. They saying we are from Kbc.”

He even tagged Amitabh Bachchan, KBC, Sony, and Devendra Fadnavis.

Mumbai Police’s Twitter handle promptly replied to the tweet saying not to share any sensitive details over call and also visit the nearest police station. “Please do not share any sensitive details over a call and visit the nearest police station for further support,” it stated.

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Team EastMojo was able to get a call recording of the fake call. The fake KBC lottery person calls their targets on WhatsApp saying that he or she has won Rs 25 lakh in a lucky International lucky draw from the Indian region including countries like Nepal, Yunan, Saudi Arabia and Dubai. The caller tells that one must do a “WhatsApp call” on the given number in the post which will be connected to the Mumbai SBI branch that is in link with KBC. Only after following this process, one can avail of the money.

The Quint even called up the number from which Aakash received the WhatsApp message (+923088556439). The man who answered the call identified him as Ahmed Raza from Multan Pakistan and said had nothing to do with the lottery business. They, however, found that Raza’s number had an image of KBC in its WhatsApp profile pic which he hastily admitted that someone might be misusing the number.

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Additionally, via an online mobile tracker software, the number was traced to Islamabad and the operator as Mobilink. Mobilink is one of Pakistan’s leading telecom operators. Additionally, if one enters the number of Trucaller the name appears as “Kbc froud.” This can only mean that other users have also received calls from this number and someone must have saved it in the above state name.

This is also not the first time that such fraud has occurred in the name of KBC. The modus operandi of each of them is however simple and a time tested method that has been used by fraudsters quite commonly.

Tempt a caller with a cash reward and once the victim gets hooked demand a processing fee. At times the victim does get quite suspicious of the caller, however, the low processing fee in comparison to the high results later often makes the victim tempted. Once the processing fee is received the victim never gets a call after that.