A MAN has been accused of conning five people out of BD97,000 in total by remotely accessing their mobile phones after enticing them with a fraudulent business opportunity.
The 25-year-old Syrian national allegedly tricked the victims into revealing their electronic signature and PIN numbers using a screen sharing application.
He rang up the alleged victims and presented them with a fake investment offer, then convinced them to download the remotely-controlled software on their phones, which enabled him to note down their private bank information.
A 48-year-old Bahraini pharmacist from Hajiyat told prosecutors that she lost BD40,000.
“The scammer called me and talked to me about a major business opportunity,” she told the public prosecution.
“The defendant tricked me into downloading a remote desktop application, which he used to monitor my bank information as I transferred BD20,000 to him as part of the so-called investment.
“He then used my bank data, including my PIN number, to transfer another BD20,000 to himself against my will and without my knowledge,” she added.
According to court documents, he repeated the tactic with four other victims, all Bahrainis, throughout the month, stealing BD2,000 from a Health Ministry worker from Sanad, BD22,000 from a pensioner in Salman Town, BD14,000 from a lawyer in Galali, and BD19,000 from an unemployed man in Sitra.
Following reports of the scam, authorities opened an investigation which led to the identification and arrest of the Syrian.
A search of his mobile phone revealed receipts of transactions involving multiple currencies, and conversations with several foreign phone numbers.
During Public Prosecution hearings, he admitted to taking only BD55,000 under instructions from a third party. He also claimed that he was directed to transfer BD18,000 of it to a packaging factory in Manama. The factory, however, denied the claim when questioned by authorities, asserting that they had no idea who the individual was and had no knowledge of any transaction involving him.
The factory owners admitted to receiving the amount, but claimed that it was given to them by another person.
Meanwhile, the defence has claimed that no investigations were made into the allegations and that almost 300 pages of the case files ‘were about an entirely different case’.
Scams involving remote desktop applications have been on the rise over the last few years. Such programmes, usually used as technical support tool, can be installed on smartphones, giving the host user full access to every application on the device.
Fraudsters get their victims to download the application and then convince them to reveal a nine-digit access code that gives them control over the device.
The scammers then use the application to either note down the victim’s bank details or transfer the money directly using the software. The case has been adjourned until Sunday.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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