Fraudsters trap ‘ignorant’

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 13: As the concerned authorities in the country continue to warn about exposure to electronic scams and fraud when dealing with fake messages or websites of unknown origin, Kuwaiti Society for Information Security President Safaa Zaman confirmed that hacking and electronic crimes are among the obstacles to digital transformation, reports Al-Qabas daily. In a statement to the daily, Zaman revealed that innovative and diverse methods of financial fraud have been invented, especially in Kuwait. She pointed out that the lack of awareness and ignorance of some people about modern hacking practices made them easy prey for fraudsters.

She disclosed that one of the most common methods is impersonating the accounts of shipping and delivery companies, followed by fraudulent methods through fake investment and trading in digital currencies, as many fraudsters impersonate people from reliable investment companies to phish the customer and gain trust. She added that scammers lure their victims by impersonating a bank employee who insists on the victim disclosing his bank card data and personal information under the pretext of updating the data and ensuring the continuation of the account, with the threat of closing the account if the customer does not respond.

She warned that phishing attacks happen by using fake websites that publish tempting advertisements to lure targets into the site and convince them to enter sensitive information, before warning them that these sites are fake and not to make the same mistake in the future. She attributed the spread of fraud to several factors, including the loss of privacy, ease of accessing data, and the absence of laws that criminalize the act of requesting information without legal cover. She cited the spread of social networking applications and their misuse, which led to the spread of information, while some companies are trading in user data, especially the insurance companies whose licenses have been terminated, not to mention some employees who sell data. She also mentioned the use of weak technologies that suffer from security gaps; thereby, contributing to the ease of obtaining data, as well as the failure of some government and private agencies to update their security applications.

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