Scam Alert: Kolbi customers receiving fraudulent text messages

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) alerted its customers this week about fraudulent text messages sent to Kolbi cellphones that automatically added charges to the accounts of those who responded.

According to ICE’s César Alpízar, the bogus texts say “Llámame con urgencia” in Spanish and “Urgent, call me” in English. Customers who respond are directed to a pay-by-the-minute phone line and automatically charged for the duration of the call. Alpízar said the text messages are coming from international phone numbers in Africa and Oceania.

ICE is warning all customers not to respond to the text messages and to report them to an ICE operator by calling 1155.