A GANG of 21 scammers has been jailed for tricking people into divulging their personal bank information and defrauding them of a total of BD21,000.
The High Criminal Court yesterday sentenced the international fraudsters to between one and five years in jail, and fined some of them BD100 to BD5,000 after finding them guilty of fraud and theft.
The convicts – one Nepali and 20 Pakistani nationals – will be deported after completing their sentences.
The gang’s eight ringleaders were sentenced to five years in jail and fined BD5,000 each while two co-defendants received three-year sentences. Eleven others were sent to prison for a year each.
Eight defendants were also fined BD100 after obscene materials were found on their phone.
Although they denied the charges, the group allegedly conned people by telling them they had won a BD20,000 prize and that they needed to share their bank details to receive the amount.
The scam came to light when several victims informed authorities about their ordeal, kicking off an investigation by the General Directorate of Anti-corruption, Economic and Electronic Security.
Of the 21 defendants, five are non-residents of Bahrain and have no identity number or officially registered occupations, while 16 are in Bahrain on a work visa. Aged between 19 and 50, the defendants came from different walks of life and were employed as labourers, cleaners and drivers. One of them was also a foreman and the other a business investor.
A detective earlier told prosecutors that the gang split into four teams to execute the phishing scam.
The first team contacted victims while the second scanned details of digital payment app users. The third group would seek out people whose bank accounts could be used to deposit the stolen money.
The fourth and the biggest group, made up of 11 defendants, meanwhile allowed the scammers to deposit the stolen money in their accounts.
Each defendant is believed to have pocketed money ranging from BD10 to BD500.
The detective said the Cybercrimes Directorate was bombarded with reports about people claiming to have fallen for a phishing scam after they were tricked into sharing their one-time password.
Pretending to be employees of banks and stores, the scammers would ask unsuspecting victims to share their OTP, a one-time password valid for only one login session or transaction on any digital device.
One elderly victim described to the court his shock when he realised that the defendants had managed to withdraw BD11,000 from his bank account. He said he received a call from a landline that seemed to belong to a bank and a man told him that he needed to update his bank details.
The 73-year-old pensioner provided his name, CPR number and bank login confirmation code after which he received a text message notifying him about the withdrawal of his funds.
The Cybercrime Prosecution chief called on citizens and residents not to disclose or share their bank data with any party.
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