Bahrain public warned against online fraud

Manama : The General Directorate of Anti-corruption and Economic and Electronic Security in the Interior Ministry has warned against online fraudsters offering “grand prizes and tempting bargains”.

The directorate has called upon citizens and residents to ignore phone calls, messages and emails winning lotteries and other prizes and report it to the authorities. 

The warning came in the “Security Culture” column published weekly by the Police Media Centre in the ministry. The directorate also announced during a weekly radio show that a total of 188 fraud cases were received this year.

“If you have been exposed to such fraud, or have been in contact with or paid a fee for such criminals, you should keep the text of all messages received by mobile, email or postal, and keep the documents of all transaction and remittances you have transferred, and immediately inform the security authorities,” the directorate urged.

“Financial fraud is one of the crimes addressed by the directorate. Fraud is defined as ‘the seizure of movable property or bonds owned by others and deception of other persons using fraudulent methods for the purpose of possession’. It’s a crime that’s non-violent. The criminals committing these acts are referred to as ‘white collars’. Because they are often very clean and elegant, their victims rarely doubt their malicious intentions,” the directorate said in the column.

“According to Article 391 of the Bahraini Penal Code, a penalty of imprisonment and a fine of not more than BD500 shall be imposed on anyone who has seized a movable property or a bond or the signature, cancellation, destruction or modification of this bond by fraudulent means or taking a name misrepresentation or misappropriation or disposition of a property or movable property which is not owned by him/her and has no right to use,” it said.