Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce has warned the public against scammers who attempt to deceive by representing themselves to be ministry officials.
The ministry has issued an alert for people not to pass any personal data and banking information on such phone calls or to others.
The ministry does not request from the public any details related to their banking accounts, bank cards, or customer verification numbers, the alert said.
The alert urged consumers to be wary of various tricks practised by scammers and inform the competent authorities about any information regarding anyone involved in such fraudulent practices.
The pattern of these rackets is almost similar. First, they collect customers’ phone numbers and then contact them over the phone, saying that their bank account or ATM card requires immediate updating as part of regulatory measures.
The caller introduces himself as a senior official from the bank’s headquarters and then reads out the first four digits of their ATM card, asking them to give the remaining digits simply for confirmation.
When the naive customer complies, the caller asks him to check whether he has received a text message on his phone from the bank to authenticate his credentials.
Then the customer receives an instant SMS from the bank, and he presumes that the caller is from the bank. The customer shares his login details, and it becomes for scammers to gain access to his bank account and empty it.
Recently, there has been a rise in cases of scammers attempting to steal money from the bank accounts of customers through fraudulent means.
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) warned bank customers, including citizens and expatriates, not to fall victim to financial frauds perpetrated by scammers.
The warning came after SAMA found that a number of fraudulent calls and text messages were being sent by unknown entities and persons with an ulterior motive to gain access to customers’ personal information or banking data.
Some customers complained that they had received calls from scammers who impersonated themselves as the Ministry of Interior officials asking for Absher details. In contrast, some others got calls seeking banking details from fraudsters claiming that they were officials from SAMA.
Scammers impersonating bank officials use phone numbers or electronic links that do not belong to any bank or financial institution. These gangs also resort to phishing, sending emails and text messages to customers, which appear to be from a bank, seeking their login details.
SAMA reiterated that it does not keep any deposits or funds belonging to individual customers, and it neither conducts financial operations for them nor on their behalf according to the banking regulations.
The central bank implied the need to keep personal and banking data fully confidential and intact and not disclose them to any unknown parties or persons whose goal may be to gain access to personal and confidential information to steal their money or misuse their bank accounts’ illegal operations.
