A new community WhatsApp group has been launched in Bahrain to raise awareness on cyber crimes and protect citizens and residents from potential scammers.
Interior Ministry’s anti-economic crimes directorate’s financial crimes division director Major Mohammed Al Abdulla said the group has been created so that people can access reliable information and shun fake news being circulated rampantly on social media.
“I believe people should join the group if they want information and details from legitimate sources,” Major Al Abdulla told Radio Bahrain in an interview.
“We want to raise awareness and protect the community from scams and misinformation.
“We will inform members of the group about any new rules and regulations before they are even publicly announced.
“On top of that, it is a good place to receive information about the latest fraudulent schemes online,” he added.
Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service has more than two billion users worldwide and millions of messages are shared on the application everyday.
Major Al Abdulla warned people against believing whatever goes viral on WhatsApp and social media.
“Anybody can write anything on WhatsApp and spread it around,” he said.
“Do not believe everything you see there. Rely only on legitimate sources, and if you have any doubts, contact the respective directorate for clarifications.”
The GDN reported earlier this month that parents were being warned against joining a WhatsApp group where scammers impersonated teachers in an attempt to trick them into sending them an OTP.
Last month, it was reported that fraudsters were creating new social media accounts and accessing people’s friend lists and contacting them through direct messages. They then inform the victims that they have been invited to a WhatsApp group, but need the OTP for the invitation to go through.
In July, the Interior Ministry reported that lonely people, especially men, were being catfished out of their money by con-artists who were pretending to be interested in them in order to get money out of them.
In January, officials had warned that scammers were using increasingly sophisticated methods to defraud people and even targeting children, trying to extract information about their parents’ credit cards.
Major Al Abdulla had earlier advised individuals to be on the alert when being contacted for deliveries – especially if they haven’t placed an order online.
He said some websites sell the registration details and data of individuals to third-party companies who could use this information for advertisements, but others might use it to scam people.
“The new community group aims to mitigate such tactics as much as possible to protect our people,” Major Al Abdulla said.
Those who wish to join the group can do so through the Cyber and Financial Crimes Instagram page @acees_bh.
A link in the bio automatically redirects the user to an invitation to the community group.
The user just needs to accept the invite, and they will join the group and receive all the latest updates.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))