Attempts at electronic fraud reached the extent of exploiting clothes similar to those belonging to security institutions, and making video calls to the victims, to make them believe the seriousness of the matter and request bank data, claiming to protect them from attempts to rob money from their account.
The head of the Kuwait Society for Information Security, Dr. Safaa Zaman, has warned of an apparent increase in fraud operations to steal bank accounts, noting that during the last two months, the society has monitored about 200 phone numbers that use programs to appear as local numbers, during which victims are contacted and trapped by swindlers, pointing out until recently, fraud attempts reached millions per month, reports Al-Qabas daily.
Swindlers devise many new tricks to entrap their victims. This type of fraud has been active in the recent period, amid continuous warnings from experts and security officials of the consequences of falling into the trap of these gangs.
Some of those who were subjected to these attempts told the daily that they received calls from seemingly local numbers, and asked for a copy of the civil card and bank account, claiming to protect their accounts from a hacking attempt, adding that the caller referred them to a person who said he was his official, and he appeared via video call wearing a uniform claiming to be a security official.
Dr. Zaman, stressed that what is happening is nothing but new fraud methods, known as “social engineering”, through which the available simple data is exploited to obtain sensitive data in unofficial ways.
She explained the simple data may be the phone number or preliminary data about the victim through his account on Twitter or Facebook, and then make a call to him or send a postal message or on the phone number or impersonate a security man, noting that the swindlers “exploit human loopholes such as greed, fear and curiosity, including sending a message to wives entitled ‘Your husband is cheating on you’ to lure them into opening links through which their data is stolen.”
The most prominent means of fraud
— A call and a request to fill out a questionnaire
— The temptation to get gifts
— Luring fans with scandalous news
— Exploiting personal account data
Dr. Safaa Zaman said that swindlers use websites on the Internet, through which the “code” of any country is used to make the call appear to be local or international as the fraudster wants.
Obstacles to combating the phenomenon
— Legislative shortcomings in confronting it
— Difficulty fighting it with traditional methods
— Classifying some of them as “phone misuse”
Characteristics of the “impostor”
— Speaks quickly
— Tends to frighten the victim