Arab News
Riyadh, Jan 2: The government and telecommunications companies in Saudi Arabia are trying to tighten the noose on phone scams where crooks try to lure the unwary with enticing offers that end up being elaborate schemes to talk their victims into sending details that can be used in identity theft or other crimes.
“Congratulations! You have won SR200,000!” reads one recent SMS received by local businessman Kamel Al-Qahtani. The message offered a way for the recipient to contact somebody to claim the prize money.
Al-Qahtani's secretary sent a reply to see what would happen. A second SMS was received saying that it would take 24 hours to deposit the money into the businessman's account. Then the red-flag moment came: They needed Al-Qahtani's banking information to make the transfer.
Hazrat Ali, a Bangladeshi national working for Al-Haya Medical Company (Amco), said he received a call from a person claiming to be a representative of Zain, the telecommunications company, saying Ali had won SR2 million in a company promotional event. Then the red flag appeared: The fake company representative, with the help of an accomplice claiming to be a Zain manager, asked Ali to purchase SR600 worth of Zain recharge cards and provide the activation codes which were needed for Zain to issue a check to Ali that could be claimed at an Al-Rajhi Bank branch.
Unfortunately for Ali, the scam worked. In exchange for a false promise of SR2 million, Ali was scammed out of SR600. Ali works serving tea in an office and SR600 could easily be more than half of his monthly salary.
Abdul Latif, an Asian worker in Riyadh, described a similar scam. In his case, the fraudster claimed that Saudi Telecom Co. had picked him as a favorite customer and wanted to reward him with SR100,000, but first he needed to deposit some money in escrow at a local money exchange center. Abdul Latif was on guard, however, and went to his bank to talk to a representative he knew there. The bank representative told him flatly: “We call them Ali Baba gangs.”