Call to curb credit card fraud

KUWAIT CITY : A well-known Kuwaiti lawyer has expressed concern over the rise in credit card fraud cases in Kuwait and has called for enacting tough laws to combat the crime. Speaking to the Arab Times on Wednesday, Labeed Abdal said that hackers are increasingly targeting popular online shopping websites and that many Kuwaiti citizens have fallen prey to this practice. Recently, he said, an employee of a bank outside Kuwait — stole clients’ details of credit cards and — sold these to international criminal gangs which then went on an online shopping spree and illegally debited the bills to accounts of some credit card holders in Kuwait.

“The hackers bought a number of items online, including: jewels, perfumes, cell phones etc. The lack of legislation pertaining to Internet crimes makes it difficult for Kuwait to fight such practices and hackers are taking advantage of this in a big way,” Abdal explained. Abdal is a Constitutional expert, who has represented the Speaker of the Parliament, Jassem Al-Khorafi in the Constitutional Court. “We need to establish Cyber Police Cell to monitor online activities and unless this happens it will be very difficult to fight the problem. The Cyber Police Units should also work in tandem with other countries to track down people who commit crime in Kuwaiti cyber domain,” he added. “Tracking down online frauds needs comprehensive knowledge in knowing the source of the email and which network it came from; so as to identify the person behind it. The Cyber Police can help prevent or minimize the flow of fraudulent emails which are sometimes used to disrupt personal computers and networks,” he added.

Abdal added that prosecutors have started receiving cases from victims of credit card fraud and are also working with international agencies to bring to justice people involved in hacking and other online crimes. “We also need active cooperation from fraud victims.” Citing another example, Abdal said that a person hacked into the online account of a bank in Kuwait and was successfully able to transfer a large amount of money to his account, even as the latter was nabbed by the authorities because he left behind ‘footprints.’ Referring to another kind of fraud, he said many people in Kuwait have been receiving fraud emails in the name of well-known local banks indicating that their account needs to be updated.

“The fraudster then calls upon the victims to fill out an e-form involving his or her bank account. Once the necessary information is provided by the user, the hackers then hack into their accounts.” Abdal added that millions of such emails are being sent daily and that receivers should exercise caution, even as they should contact the bank to check on the veracity of a mail if it arouses their suspicions.

By Francis A. Clifford Cardozo
Arab Times Staff


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