Five-year sentence for scammer behind BD800 OTP fraud

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A scammer who tricked victims into revealing one-time passwords (OTPs) through fake bank calls has been sentenced to five years in prison after stealing BD800 from one victim. The High Criminal Court ruled that he was part of a larger network that funneled stolen funds abroad.

The case came to light when a Bahraini man reported to the Cybercrime Directorate that he had received a text asking him to update his details on a financial app. After following the instructions, he received a call from someone pretending to be a bank officer handling security updates. The scammer convinced him to provide an OTP, and the following day, the victim discovered money missing from his account.

Police traced the fraud to an international gang, with the defendant acting as an intermediary. His role was to collect the stolen funds and transfer them outside Bahrain.

The defendant and his accomplices were charged with fraud. Prosecutors stated they conspired with an unknown individual to exploit the victim's electronic signature—his credit card PIN—and tricked him into revealing banking details by posing as bank staff. They were also accused of illegally accessing his online account and possessing illegal material on an electronic device.