The Central Bank of Kuwait has ordered all exchange companies to join the Central Chamber and report cases of electronic fraud and fraudulent money transfers to its monitoring and coordination system, strengthening real-time efforts to track fraudsters and protect customer funds.
The move is aimed at accelerating the tracking of fraudsters, enabling banks and other concerned authorities to respond in real time and helping protect customers’ funds from fraudulent transactions.
The directive forms part of the Central Bank’s broader efforts to strengthen Kuwait’s system for combating electronic financial fraud and cybercrime. It also expands the scope of the Central Chamber by allowing electronic payment service providers, electronic money service providers and electronic payment operating-system service providers to become members.
The Central Bank has instructed the exchange companies to take the necessary measures to incorporate their fraud cases into the chamber’s operations in line with the guide for dealing with electronic financial fraud.
The expanded coordination mechanism is designed to improve communication between banks and other relevant authorities, allowing suspected fraudulent transactions to be stopped quickly, funds to be traced and necessary legal action to be initiated without delay.
The move comes amid a rise in fraud schemes targeting customers through fake communications, fraudulent data-update links, misleading advertisements and false prize claims. The authorities are seeking to strengthen preventive measures and limit the ability of fraudsters to successfully transfer or withdraw stolen funds.
The inclusion of exchange companies is also expected to enhance national readiness to protect customer funds and support the stability of Kuwait’s financial system by creating a more integrated response to financial fraud.
The existing Central Chamber includes representatives from banks, the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecution. The mechanism has played a significant role in reducing response times and improving the efficiency of handling reports of financial fraud, according to the report.
With exchange companies and additional financial service providers being brought into the framework, the Central Chamber is set to play a broader role in coordinating Kuwait’s real-time response to increasingly sophisticated electronic fraud operations.
