Following the loss of more than six billion riyals several years ago by some 30,000 people in Asir who fell for the promises of spurious investment companies, locals are now being angered by the appearance of stickers advertising loans to help people settle bank debts. Local residents have complained of the stickers, found displaying contact numbers inside cash machine booths, and have called on the authorities to address what they say is another example of con artists running illegal activities in broad daylight. When one of the numbers was called by an Okaz reported, he was told that the unnamed company had promotional stickers posted all over the Kingdom and that its services included the payment of car-purchase debts on behalf of the owner at a 40 percent rate of interest. The company representative said that no official authority had objected to their activities. Muhammad Ahmad Abu Kharsha of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Abha said that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) was responsible for handling the issue and that the ministry could only warn the public against trusting unknown sources with their money. Abdullah Ali Al-Amri, the Abha director of SAMA, however, said the agency merely licensed the opening of ATMs, and that the banks were responsible for any advertisements appearing inside the booths.
