Sri Lanka needs a united front against financial scams

Financial fraud is no longer a fringe problem in Sri Lanka. It is a national challenge and tackling it will take more than periodic warnings from a single regulator.

That was the central message from Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe at the launch of the “Be Scam Proof” campaign on 2 June 2026. Speaking at the Central Bank premises, he called for a coordinated response involving banks, fintech companies, telecom providers, law enforcement, media and citizens not just regulators. The message was unambiguous: no single institution can hold this line alone.

Two threats, one gap

Sri Lanka is contending with two distinct but related problems. The first is the rise of sophisticated digital scams fraudulent links, fake messages and OTP theft targeting an increasingly connected population. The second is the continued spread of illegal investment and plantation schemes among communities that struggle to tell a licensed institution apart from an unregulated one.

Both exploit the same underlying vulnerability: the space between what regulators define as legal and what the public actually understands. That gap is where fraudsters operate, and closing it is the real work ahead. As digital banking, social media-based financial offers and online transactions become routine for more Sri Lankans, the window of opportunity for scammers has only widened.

The stakes are real

Financial fraud does not only empty bank accounts. It erodes trust in formal financial institutions, discourages participation in the regulated economy, and sets back economic recovery effects that are felt most acutely in developing economies where households have little buffer to absorb losses.

Pyramid schemes, illegal deposit-taking operations and high-return investment scams can wipe out years of savings and devastate entire communities. What makes this particularly dangerous is timing: scammers are often most active precisely when people are most desperate during periods of economic pressure, uncertainty or financial hardship, when the promise of a quick return is hardest to resist and easiest to believe.

The damage, when it comes, goes beyond the individual. Households that lose savings withdraw from formal financial systems. Communities that fall victim to illegal schemes lose faith in institutions more broadly. The ripple effects are long and difficult to reverse.

A campaign built for reach

The month-long “Be Scam Proof” campaign is designed to meet people where they are. It will use posters, short films, a theme song, media partnerships and digital outreach to reach as wide an audience as possible across urban centres and rural communities alike.

Particular attention will go to the groups most frequently targeted and least equipped to push back: low-income households, senior citizens, young people, schools, universities and workplaces. Awareness, the Governor stressed, must reach the farthest corners of the economy, not just those already plugged into financial news and digital literacy resources.

Everyone has a role

Dr. Weerasinghe was direct about shared responsibility. Telecom providers, whose networks are routinely misused to reach potential victims, must play a more active role in cutting off that access. Financial institutions and fintech companies are the first line of defence consumers place direct trust in them, and that trust carries an obligation. Cybersecurity authorities and law enforcement were urged to continue strengthening the country’s digital financial safety framework.

He also spoke candidly to influencers and content creators: reach without responsibility puts trusting audiences at risk. When large followings are built on credibility, promoting unverified financial products or schemes even unknowingly can cause serious harm. Financial analysts, too, were encouraged to ground their assessments in the real-life consequences for ordinary households whose savings and futures depend on sound, honest information.

For citizens, the message was clear and practical: question suspicious promises, verify before you trust, and understand that protecting your own finances is also an act of protecting the wider financial system.

A single awareness campaign is a beginning, not a solution. Scams evolve continuously new technologies, new platforms and shifting consumer behaviour create fresh opportunities for fraud. Public education must keep pace, and the Central Bank has committed to sustaining this effort well beyond June.

The broader ambition is straightforward: a Sri Lanka where citizens are better informed, more alert and significantly harder to fool. Getting there will require every stakeholder regulators, institutions, media, technology providers and individuals to treat financial consumer protection not as someone else’s responsibility, but as their own.