Advertisements on social media main source of fraud in kuwait

Lieutenant Colonel Ammar Hamid Al-Sarraf, acting head of the Support Services Section in the Cybercrime Department, has issued a pressing warning to parents regarding the increasing prevalence of online scams targeting youth in Kuwait.

During an interview on the Kuwaiti News Channel’s program “Ishraqah Kuwaitiya,” Al-Sarraf highlighted a disturbing case where a Kuwaiti student spent over 20,000 dinars on contests and support within the TikTok app.

The student’s mother sought help from authorities after she was unable to control her daughter’s excessive spending on the popular social media platform, reports Q8-Press.

This incident underscores the need for parents to closely monitor their children’s online activities, particularly their interactions on social media and the games or applications they download.

Al-Sarraf emphasized that social media advertisements are a common vector for scams in Kuwait. He stressed the importance of familiarizing oneself with the Cybercrime Law to safeguard individual rights and protect against fraud.

Moreover, Al-Sarraf pointed out that certain periods are more susceptible to scams, such as when Kuwaiti citizens are seeking to hire domestic workers from abroad. During these times, scammers often impersonate reputable companies like Al-Durra to deceive their victims.

He also revealed that scammers obtain phone numbers from fraudulent websites through authentication services. These numbers are then used to purchase phone lines in the victim’s name, bypassing the need for an OTP (One-Time Password) and relying solely on authentication services to steal money.