Phone scam impersonation in South Asia

In late July 2026, Sri Lanka’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team and police warned of a rapid rise in online fraud, highlighting fake delivery messages and impersonation of government officials on platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The advisories urged citizens to verify unsolicited requests and avoid sharing passwords or OTPs.

By early August, the warning theme had spread regionally. Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission issued a similar alert about callers posing as HEC officials and demanding personal or financial data, directing the public to report suspicious numbers to national cyber‑crime agencies. Sri Lanka reiterated its concerns, this time focusing on phone calls impersonating the Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, urging verification through official channels. The two snapshots together show a widening pattern of phone‑based and online impersonation scams across South Asia, prompting coordinated public advisories in both countries.