BPNG warns against scammers

The National Business

THE Bank of PNG has again warned people to deal only with financial institutions it has authorised to operate in the country.
It sounded the warning following a fraudulent email being circulated which claims to be from BPNG Governor Loi Bakani.
The email address used was BANKPNG<[email protected].
The bank said it did not have a Gmail address “and has not and will not circulate such notices”.
“The bank has a broader mandate as the Central Bank of the country and is the banker of the Government,” a statement said.
“The bank does not deal with individuals nor engage in retail banking activities which is the function of commercial banks.
“If you are a recipient of that particular email, ignore the email and refrain from paying any service fee to ensure a promised transaction.
“If you do, you are sure to lose your money as requests for upfront payment of fees are highly likely to be scams.”
The bank said schemes and scams came in different forms such as:

  • A letter requesting you to facilitate transfers of millions of dollars from overseas governments into your personal bank account;
  • Electronic mails claiming that you have won millions of dollars from lottery;
  • Mobile phone messages claiming that you have won prizes from promotional activities;
  • Promises for online transfers to your account conditional on you providing details of your bank account and payment of fees upfront to the promoter;
  • Individuals/entities collecting money with promise to pay high interest rates (for example U-Vistract);
  • Letters using official letterheads and forged signature of the BPNG governor and heads of government departments claiming to transfer funds to your account conditional on payment of fees upfront;
  • Use of marketing network to promote discounts for services such as hotels, airfares and hire cars for members after they pay membership fees; and,
  • Any promotion of membership and investments in various virtual money or crypto currencies (like bitcoin or BTC).

The authorised financial institutions is published in the newspapers from time to time and on the website www.bankpng.gov.pg.