Top Bahrain firms' names used in text messages scam

Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

People in Bahrain continue to be targeted by scammers who choose names of reputed Bahrain companies and organisations to convince them into revealing personal information or cheat them out of money. The public has been constantly warned by authorities over text messages being sent to them by fraudsters imitating authorities or officials.

Scammers send fake text messages to trick people into giving them personal information – like password, account number, or CPR number. With this information, they could gain access to the victim’s email, bank, or other accounts. Their information can even be sold to other scammers.

In a recent incident, text messages are being sent out claiming to be from BenifitPay that is spelt similar to BenefitPay, Bahrain’s national electronic wallet payment system. The message asks the receiver to update their CPR information for BenifitPay’s record. An unsuspecting person may not immediately notice the difference of a single alphabet in the organisation’s name. It asks the person to click on a link in order to proceed further. However officials have confirmed that this is a scam and has nothing to do with them. They have also advised people not to fall prey to these fraudsters and to inform the authorities.

Similarly fake messages are being sent out in the name of Bahrain Post against which officials have warned too. The public is warned to be on alert and not to be scammed by such fraudsters. Some text messages are sent by fraudsters, requesting to call them back to process applications. Such scam messages are not to be dealt with and senders should not be provided with any bank and personal details, authorities continue to warn. These messages aim to hack passwords and access private and secure information.