Saudi Arabia Blocks More Than 200 Fake Websites in Two Months
Saudi Arabia has blocked more than 200 websites impersonating the kingdom’s Ministry of Commerce over the past two months, an official has disclosed.
“The ministry combats swindle and fraud through two tracks: daily proactive monitoring and cooperation with partners,” the ministry’s spokesman Abdul Rahman Al Hussain added at an awareness promotion forum.
The official underlined the importance of public awareness about dangers and harms of fraud and commercial cover-ups.
“Awareness campaigns have helped rectify the status of more than 19,000 commercial establishments, including 2,216 in the Eastern Province,” Al Hussain said. “These establishments are now compliant with the government regulations, “ added the official.
Last February, Al Hussain said commerce authorities blocked 22 websites involved in fraud in the previous three months after they were found involved in promoting bogus apps defrauding consumers.
In recent months, Saudi media reported several arrests linked to different fraud cases.
In February, a Saudi court sentenced a local mosque imam to a total of five years in prison on charges of fraud, harming judicial reputation and breach of mistrust. The same month, Saudi security authorities said they had arrested three citizens suspected of having defrauded a commercial establishment of SR2.9 million in a false impersonation case.
Earlier this week, Saudi prosecutors said a 14- member ring was busted for suspected defrauding of citizens by luring them into investing in unlicensed digital currencies, the second such arrests reported in around three months in the country.
In July, Saudi prosecutors announced arresting 12 expatriates and citizens suspected of practising online fraud and transferring the illicit gains to outside the kingdom.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia announced creating a prosecution branch to handle cases of financial fraud in a step aimed to fast-track related procedures.
