Smishing Scam: Fraudster gets three years, deportation for BD1,000 theft

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A fraudster who swindled BD1,000 from an individual through a smishing scam will now spend three years in a Bahraini prison after his appeal was rejected.

The High Criminal Appeals Court also upheld an earlier conviction, ordering the deportation of the Asian national after serving his sentence Court records reveal that the suspect duped the victim by sending a fraudulent message requesting an update of his bank card details.

The victim recounted to prosecutors that he received a text message asking him to update his bank details.

Unaware of the scam, he clicked on the link and was prompted to enter his ATM card number and other details.

Following this, the victim received another message with a link and a set of numbers for data verification.

However, after completing these steps, he received an SMS from the bank notifying him that BD1,000 had been withdrawn from his account.

“Startled, I immediately filed a report with the Cybercrime Directorate,” the victim told prosecutors.

Police tracked down the suspect by following his transaction trail and identifying the final recipient of the stolen funds.

The money had been withdrawn from a financial outlet and an attempt was made to transfer it abroad. Investigators also provided court footage from the financial institution as evidence.

Further investigation revealed that the suspect had an accomplice outside Bahrain, whose location remains unknown and is still under investigation.

The suspect in Bahrain was promised a commission for transferring the stolen funds abroad. The Public Prosecution charged the defendant with colluding and assisting an unknown party in the unauthorized use of the victim’s electronic signature to illegally seize the funds.

He was also charged with conspiring with others to fraudulently obtain the victim’s money and unauthorized access to information technology data.