May 17: Have you received SMS on your mobile informing you that you have won a lottery? If you have, please be warned. It is a scam.

If you respond, you will receive an e-mail asking you your bank account and explaining how to process the money. They will also call you repeatedly.

You will also be told that you will have to send a few hundred dollars, say 150 dollars, as fees to complete the paper work. Later as time goes by they will ask for more and more money.

In the past, people even in Bhutan have lost thousands of dollars after receiving similar messages in the form of e-mails. The modus operandi is the same. Only the mode has changed from e-mail to SMS on mobile phones.

Congratulations! Your mobile number has won 172,000 pounds in the ongoing mobile promo. To claim the money, send an e-mail to this address. This is one of the many SMS mobile users in Bhutan have been receiving.

The Officiating General Manager of BMobile Yeshey Tshogay said they have received complaints from a few customers. She said people should not respond to such messages even though they usually come from seemingly legitimate numbers. She said those who provide their mobile numbers while filling online forms are at greater risk of getting this sort of SMS.

The scammers could have also figured the numbering plan of BMobile and sent the messages randomly. BMobile is aware of this. We will initiate filtering process in case this becomes a major problem. BMobile says it has a secure system and that the chance of it being hacked is limited.