How to spot a scam SMS or WhatsApp message: a six-point checklist
Fake prize alerts, "your account is blocked" texts and urgent requests from a "relative" all follow the same playbook. Learn it once and you'll spot them in seconds.
Almost everyone with a phone in Bangladesh has received one: a message saying you have won a prize, that your mobile banking account will be blocked, or that a cousin abroad urgently needs money. The details change, but the tricks behind them barely do. Here is a checklist you can run through in a few seconds.
1. Is it rushing you?
Scams create panic: "within 30 minutes", "today only", "your account will be closed". Real banks and mobile financial services rarely demand instant action by text. Urgency is the first red flag.
2. Is it asking for a PIN, password or OTP?
No genuine bank, mobile wallet or telecom operator will ever ask you to share your PIN, password or the one-time code (OTP) they send you. Anyone who asks — by text, call or chat — is trying to take over your account. Never read an OTP out to anyone.
3. Check the sender — then check it again
Scammers send messages from ordinary personal numbers, or use names that look official at a glance. A message claiming to be from a bank but arriving from an unknown personal number deserves suspicion.
4. Don't tap the link
Links in scam messages lead to fake log-in pages built to steal your details, or to apps that can read your messages. If a message says there is a problem with your account, close it and open the official app yourself, or call the number printed on your card or on the provider's official website.
5. "Relative in trouble"? Call them directly
Messages from a "new number" claiming to be a family member who needs money urgently are a common trick on WhatsApp. Call the person on the number you already have, or ask a question only they would know, before sending anything.
6. Too good to be true?
You cannot win a lottery you never entered. Prize, job and investment messages that ask for a "processing fee" first are scams.
Already clicked or shared a code?
Act fast: change your PIN or password from the official app, contact your bank or mobile wallet's official helpline to freeze the account, and tell your family so they are not targeted next. Report the number to your operator, and keep screenshots as evidence if you go to the police.