Tougher action call against cyber fraud

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Scam calls, sham texts and suspect transfers drove renewed calls in Parliament yesterday for tougher action against cyber fraud, after the government backed MP Hassan Ebrahim’s proposal to step up public awareness.

In reply to the government’s response, Ebrahim said the threat now reached far beyond stray online trickery and posed a real risk to people’s money and private data.

He said public awareness was the first line of defence and argued that many cases could have been avoided if people knew not to share bank details, open suspicious links or answer calls from unknown sources.

Reply

The lawmaker welcomed the government’s backing for his proposal and said its reply set out work already being done through awareness campaigns, media programmes and joint work with the banking and telecommunications sectors.

Those efforts, he said, were appreciated, but the present need was for a wider and more steady push rather than shortlived campaigns.

Ebrahim said he had put the proposal forward after repeated complaints reached MPs from citizens and residents who said they had been targeted through scam text messages, phone calls, fake links and sham websites posing as state bodies or financial firms in order to steal personal and banking data and take money.

“What is worrying is that these fraudulent methods have become more advanced and better organised,” he said.

Technology

Ebrahim added that fraudsters were using new technology and the speed of social media to reach as many victims as they could.

He said older people and those with less knowledge of online scam methods could face a greater risk than others.

The MP called for warning messages to be spread through every available outlet, including television, radio, local newspapers, digital platforms and social media.

Awareness, he said, should become a continuing public programme rather than a seasonal or limited effort.

Campaigns

Ebrahim also called for campaigns aimed at groups with different patterns of technology use, including older people, school and university students, and workers.

Each group used technology in its own way, he said, and the message should match that.

But awareness alone, he told the chamber, would not be enough. Stronger technical and procedural protection was also needed in banking work.

He said banks in Bahrain already had advanced systems, yet the fast change in scam methods meant those systems had to be updated on a continuing basis.

He called for stronger alert and notice systems before some financial transactions are carried out, above all large transfers or transfers to overseas accounts, so there is greater certainty that the account holder is the one making the move and not a victim of fraud.

Ebrahim also urged a study of added checks for sensitive banking transactions, so the customer is given a chance to review the payment before it goes through, chiefly in cases where an account may have faced an attempted breach or misuse.

Turning to the telecom sector, he said there could be no real push against cyber fraud without a strong role being played by telecommunications firms and the bodies overseeing them in cutting down scam text messages and suspicious calls reaching users.