A WELL-KNOWN Bahraini businessman allegedly fell victim to a phishing attack with crafty scammers stealing nearly BD1,000 from his bank account, a court heard.
Two suspects, aged 25 and 26, denied charges of impersonating another person and swindling cash.
Prosecutors accused the Pakistani defendants of sending a text message to the 67-year-old businessman asking him to update his SIM card’s information otherwise his mobile service would be cut off.
High Criminal Court documents say that the Bahraini filled the fraudulent form that the text message sent a link to, which masqueraded as belonging to their target’s mobile provider.
He then received a set of one-time passwords (OTP) which the defendants managed to obtain, allowing them to gain access to his bank account and transfer BD994 to a fellow national.
The businessman, who previously sat on the board of directors of several large Bahraini corporations including Batelco and Bapco, reported the scam to the Interior Ministry’s Cyber Crimes Directorate.
The hearing was adjourned to June 8.
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