A digital payment feature designed to make settling bills easier is allegedly being turned into a tool for harassment, with MPs calling for urgent action to stop blocked users from bombarding others with unwanted requests.
The problem centres on BenefitPay’s Fawri+ and Split Bill Requests, which allow users to send payment requests through the app without actually transferring money.
BenefitPay split bill request
MPs say the features are being misused as a ‘backdoor messaging service’ by people who have been blocked on phones and social media platforms.
They are now calling for blocked individuals to be prevented from sending requests to those who have cut off contact with them, while also urging the platform to give recipients the option of deleting unwanted requests rather than simply rejecting them.
Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee chairman and Bahrain Chamber treasurer MP Ahmed Al Salloom said the complaints received by Parliament and other authorities showed that the issue was no longer a minor nuisance.
He said complaints had been lodged with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, the Benefit Company and the Interior Ministry by people frustrated by repeated and unwanted requests.
According to him, in one case, a Bahraini man claimed to have been bombarded with around 100 requests in a short time – some allegedly carrying abusive messages – from a person he had already blocked across all other platforms.
In another case, a Bahraini woman claimed she was repeatedly targeted by an ex-partner through payment requests, with MPs told that the apparent aim was to cause trouble within her family.
Mr Al Salloom said such cases ‘demonstrated how technology intended to facilitate everyday life could be twisted into a means of harassment’.
“People block someone because they do not want any further contact with that person. It is unacceptable for another route to remain open simply because it happens to be labelled a payment request,” he said.
Committee vice-chairwoman MP Zainab Abdulamir backed the concerns, stressing that digital payment services must keep pace with the way users are actually experiencing them.
“The protection of users cannot stop at the point where a transaction is made. If a feature can be repeatedly used to target, disturb or intimidate another person, there must be safeguards against that misuse,” she said.
The proposal, submitted by Mr Al Salloom and four other MPs, is being reviewed by Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee.
Benefit has informed the committee that anything classified as a transaction cannot currently be deleted, whether it is received or requested, Mr Al Salloom noted.
However, the company said it would examine possible solutions to address the concerns raised by MPs.
The legislators are seeking a practical solution that would preserve the convenience of Fawri+ and Split Bill Requests while closing what they see as an unwanted loophole.
The issue will be tabled for debate during the fifth exceptional term, which is expected to start on Sunday.
BenefitPay accounted for approximately 246 million transactions across all Electronic Fund Transfer System services between January and June this year, Fawri+, Fawri and Fawateer, with a total value of BD5.4 billion.
This represented year-on-year growth of 7.2 per cent in both volume and value, compared with 229.4m transactions worth BD5.1bn in the first half of 2025.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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