Dhaka, Feb 04 (V7N) — The Election Commission (EC) has urged people, particularly election officials, to remain alert against fraudsters ahead of the 13th National Parliament Election, warning them not to respond to suspicious phone calls.

The warning was issued in a press release on Wednesday (February 4).

According to the EC, it has recently come to notice that fraudsters are attempting to collect bKash numbers from election officials by falsely promising to arrange election honorarium payments. The fraudulent calls are reportedly being made from the phone numbers 01342046232 and 01612677078.

In its statement, the Election Commission clarified that election honorariums will be paid after the polling of the referendum and National Parliament election, in accordance with existing rules. The payments will be disbursed through the presiding officers at the respective polling centres.

The EC emphasized that no election official needs to contact any individual or organisation to receive the honorarium and urged all concerned officials not to respond to calls from fraudsters under any circumstances.

END/SMA/AJ