Head of the US Financial and Commercial Crimes Office, Dr. Jamal Abdel Rahim, said the cybercrime problems, including fraud are increasing with every passing day in Kuwait, and what is surprising is that a majority of victims are people over the age of 70.
Dr. Abdul Rahim told Al-Anba that a vast majority of this age group do not have sufficient experience or knowledge about technology to confront the professional methods used globally in electronic fraud, especially since ‘WhatsApp’ messages and anonymous calls are the most prominent means used by fraudsters to rob the funds of this group.
Abdul Rahim stressed the need to enact laws to tackle fraud problems which will cause many losses for individuals and will have an overall negative effect, and cited the weakness of some provisions and legislation in the Kuwaiti law which has encouraged growth in fraudulent activities.
In another context, Abdul Rahim pointed out that money laundering operations have become a worrying phenomenon for the national economy and the economies of other countries, as the volume of money laundered globally is estimated at about 3 trillion dollars annually, which is equivalent to 8% of the volume of international trade, while there are no estimates of the size of such operations in Kuwait.
He explained that the increase in the volume of suspicious transactions during the recent period is mainly due to the growing volume of investment transactions and electronic commerce via the Internet, especially the trade and purchase of digital currencies that have spread among investors who wish to reap quick profits.
He stated that many of the parties that are notified or concerned with confronting money laundering and terrorist financing are still unable to confront these operations, especially in light of the change and mutation of techniques used by money launderers and their tremendous ability to create and innovate new and modern ways to pass these funds away from the eyes of the concerned authorities in the country.
He stated that the only solution lies in strengthening the culture in that aspect regarding these operations and the use of experts and trainees who have the mentality and professionalism necessary to limit these operations, in addition to the application of information technology and advanced electronic systems.
Abdul Rahim said that 95% of money laundering operations in the world are centered in New York because of the huge global trade volume, followed by London in second place, and Moscow in third place, noting at the same time that eliminating the matter is not easy and requires huge efforts and advanced technology.
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