More than 50 Bahrainis have been targeted by online fraudsters hoping to take advantage of their adherence to official instructions in the wake of the ongoing Iran attacks.
The scammers masquerade as ministry officials and, when links are followed, browsers are locked until a ‘penalty fee’ has been paid by the victims. Recent incidents have been reported to the authorities.
Cybersecurity expert Hafiz Atta ur Rehman believes the phishing scam is slowly gaining traction in Bahrain, and he has urged people to avoid falling for it. “They seem to be using a rotating address, meaning the web name changes periodically, making it difficult to track down the IP address,” he warned.
Speaking to the GDN, the Pakistani security researcher, who has been living in the kingdom for three years, stated that he first came across the scam while working on a different project.
“I was working on matters relating to cybersecurity for my company, and trying to research the latest malware that is out there,” Mr Rehman said.
“Coincidentally, I happened to be watching some videos on Youtube while I was doing my work, and I came across an advertisement for what looked like an interesting puzzle game.
“After clicking on the link, it redirected me towards another webpage that said that my browser was locked by the Interior Ministry and, in order to ‘unlock’ it, I had to pay BD150.
“Of course, I could tell immediately that this was fraudulent, probably set up by people outside of Bahrain, and I used the tools at my disposal to dig deeper.”
Mr Rehman stated that he took a screenshot of the page and shared it with colleagues and friends, some of whom said that they came across similar scams by clicking on random social media advertisements.
After using his cybersecurity tools and programmes, he was able to discover that a total of 55 people in Bahrain had already fallen victim to the scam, meaning that the fraudsters had already pocketed more than BD8,000.
Warning the public, especially as these are vulnerable times for families with large numbers of students facing online lessons and spending an extensive time online during breaks from studying.
“The ads may pop up while they are watching Youtube or doing something relating to their learning,” said Mr Rehman. ‘There are attempts to entice them with products that look like they might be interested in.
“Younger users especially may panic and feel like they did something wrong, and potentially immediately grab their parents bank cards to pay ‘the fine’.
“It is therefore important to stay calm in such situations and check for any spelling mistakes or sign of a scam before clicking on a link.
“Younger users should be encouraged to call their parents for help, and parents should deal with the matter without blaming the child as anybody could fall for such a scam.”
Mr Rehman stated that he had already alerted the authorities and is encouraging people who come across the scam to immediately do likewise.
Contact the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security, either by calling the 992 hotline, by sending a message on WhatsApp at 17108108, or by filling a form on acees.gov.bh
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