Cybercriminals target personal information

Fayez Mohammed, an Emirati, said he receives many such scam messages. “The most recent of these was a message that appears to be sent from the traffic police, alerting me that my driving licence is to expire soon and asking me to renew by simply clicking on a hyperlink which turns out to be a scam attack.”

Ibrahim Radi, an Egyptian resident, said the scammers asked him about a traffic fine issued against his car in a WhatsApp message. “For inquiry or information, I was asked to just click on a hyperlink.”

Ahmed El Behairy, an Egyptian resident, said he recently received a message in which an unidentified person asked him to transfer certain amount of money for a limited time.

“He said that he urgently needed money to pay out shipment charges and promised to pay back by the end of the day because he did not have enough time to make immediately due charges.”

El Behairy added that he was about to make the transfer but gave himself some time to think about it. “Who was this person and how he got my mobile number,” he wondered.

Adnan Saleh, a Jordanian resident, said what makes things worse is when you receive such messages or emails from a person you trust. “Some time back, I got an email and WhatsApp message in which one of my close friends asked me to send him some money as he was stuck abroad and lost all his money.”