A LABOURER who swindled an expatriate doctor of BD1,000 had his five-year jail term upheld by the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court.
The 38-year-old Pakistani man was found guilty by the High Criminal Court of using another person’s digital credentials without permission.
He was also fined BD5,000 and will be deported upon the completion of his sentence.
“The defendant stole the Personal Identification Number (PIN) of a 67-year-old Egyptian physician who works at a private hospital in Riffa,” said the court in its ruling.
“The doctor told the Public Prosecution that he received a text message asking for an authentication code which had moments earlier been sent from his bank.
“The doctor obliged, giving the sender of the text message a one-time password (OTP) from his bank and soon received another message notifying him that BD1,000 had been withdrawn from his account.”
According to court documents, he immediately reported the incident to his financial services provider, which later confirmed to prosecutors that the transaction had happened.
Transaction records also confirm that the transfer did take place between the doctor and the defendant’s account.
OTP, a one-time PIN or password, is valid for only one log-in session or transaction on any digital device. Once the four digits are shared, the scammers have access to personal information and digital wallets.
The GDN reported on Wednesday that scammers were employing new techniques to trick people in Bahrain out of their money faster than anyone can catch them.
Cyber con artists now use methods that make it very difficult to track stolen money, by transferring it from bank account to bank account, and finally remitting it overseas.
According to the Interior Ministry’s anti-economic crimes directorate’s financial crimes division director Major Mohammed Al Abdulla, the most popular method is through phone calls, with the scammers usually executing the theft within minutes.
Victims are encouraged to report cases via the ministry’s 24-hour hotline, 992, visit the nearest police station or email at aecd@interior.gov.bh
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