18 June 2013
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia is one of the countries in the world with the lowest rate in financial fraud committed by electronic information and communication devices, and the rate matches in line with globally accepted limit, the Banking Media Awareness Committee (BMAC) disclosed Monday at the launch of its 5th edition of the anti-financial fraud campaign entitled: "Don't disclose it", held at Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh.
"Considering that the Kingdom as one of the lowest in this kind of fraud was based on global financial evaluation and ranking agencies, and not on opinion of top officials of Saudi banks," said Talat Hafiz, the Secretary General of Banking Media Awareness Committee of the Saudi banks, at the press conference.
"Financial fraud committed by electronic information and communication devices include using stolen credit cards, and stealing bank account code numbers or personal financial information in order to illegally generate money or financial benefits," he added.
"For example, only few thousand (or less than five thousand in one of the previous recent years ) complaints were filed by Saudi banks of maltransaction, including cases of financial fraud through those devices, compared with over 10.3 billion safe transaction made through ATM and other mobile devices," he noted.
Hafiz stressed that the campaign this year will use more channels to reach as much as possible our targeted audience. "These channels include print, audio, video, social media, road advertisements, street screens, and for the first time airport screens, as well as smart communication devices. We will send over 30 million messages in our campaign this year. Also, we will target people of special needs through the proper communication media," he said.
Two other members of the committee participated in the press conference. One of them, Mohammed Al Yami, said the Saudi banks are going ahead in modernizing their infrastructures and enhancing their e-banking capabilities as the future of banking lies in this type of capabilities.
"These capabilities mean more of flexibility, efficiency, and performance. But these characteristics cannot be sustained without the alert customers on fraud, as this alertness keeps these attempts at their lowest level," he said.
The other member Dr. Mohammed Al Awad mentioned that the launch of this campaign at this time of the year, in the beginning of summer every year, by commitment and in collaboration with Saudi banks for the fifth consecutive year, comes to coincide with the beginning of the exodus of people abroad with large sums of money to spend on vacation, the thing that necessitates financial awareness efforts.
"In this kind of campaign, we must remind our travelers to protect their financial information and don't disclose it to whoever to avoid fraud attempts. In doing financial transaction, they should only use official banking channels and avoid any temptation that might exposed them to being victimized," he added.
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia is one of the countries in the world with the lowest rate in financial fraud committed by electronic information and communication devices, and the rate matches in line with globally accepted limit, the Banking Media Awareness Committee (BMAC) disclosed Monday at the launch of its 5th edition of the anti-financial fraud campaign entitled: "Don't disclose it", held at Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh.
"Considering that the Kingdom as one of the lowest in this kind of fraud was based on global financial evaluation and ranking agencies, and not on opinion of top officials of Saudi banks," said Talat Hafiz, the Secretary General of Banking Media Awareness Committee of the Saudi banks, at the press conference.
"Financial fraud committed by electronic information and communication devices include using stolen credit cards, and stealing bank account code numbers or personal financial information in order to illegally generate money or financial benefits," he added.
"For example, only few thousand (or less than five thousand in one of the previous recent years ) complaints were filed by Saudi banks of maltransaction, including cases of financial fraud through those devices, compared with over 10.3 billion safe transaction made through ATM and other mobile devices," he noted.
Hafiz stressed that the campaign this year will use more channels to reach as much as possible our targeted audience. "These channels include print, audio, video, social media, road advertisements, street screens, and for the first time airport screens, as well as smart communication devices. We will send over 30 million messages in our campaign this year. Also, we will target people of special needs through the proper communication media," he said.
Two other members of the committee participated in the press conference. One of them, Mohammed Al Yami, said the Saudi banks are going ahead in modernizing their infrastructures and enhancing their e-banking capabilities as the future of banking lies in this type of capabilities.
"These capabilities mean more of flexibility, efficiency, and performance. But these characteristics cannot be sustained without the alert customers on fraud, as this alertness keeps these attempts at their lowest level," he said.
The other member Dr. Mohammed Al Awad mentioned that the launch of this campaign at this time of the year, in the beginning of summer every year, by commitment and in collaboration with Saudi banks for the fifth consecutive year, comes to coincide with the beginning of the exodus of people abroad with large sums of money to spend on vacation, the thing that necessitates financial awareness efforts.
"In this kind of campaign, we must remind our travelers to protect their financial information and don't disclose it to whoever to avoid fraud attempts. In doing financial transaction, they should only use official banking channels and avoid any temptation that might exposed them to being victimized," he added.
© The Saudi Gazette 2013
