RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Commerce has warned the public against scammers who attempt to deceive them by pretending to be ministry officials. The ministry alerted people not to pass any personal data and banking information to others. The ministry has said through its official account on social media that it does not request from the public any details related to their banking accounts, bank cards, or customer verification numbers. It urged consumers to be wary of various tricks adopted by scammers and inform the competent authorities about any information regarding anyone involved in such fraudulent practices. There has been a spurt recently in cases of scammers attempting to steal money from the bank accounts of customers through fraudulent means. Some customers complained that they had received calls from scammers, who impersonated themselves as officials of the Ministry of Interior asking for Absher details while some others got calls seeking banking details from fraudsters claiming that they are officials from SAMA. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) earlier warned bank customers, including citizens and expatriates, not to fall victim to financial frauds being 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 personal information or banking data of customers. 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 underscored 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 in order to steal their money or to misuse their bank accounts for illegal operations. The modus operandi of these rackets is almost similar. First, they collect phone numbers of customers 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 headquarters of the bank 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 in order 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, facilitating the scammers to gain access to his bank account and empty it.
