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Net fraudsters target Bahrain bank

Manama, September 12, 2008

Fraudsters have targeted a bank in Bahrain in an attempt to gain the personal details of its account holders so they can steal their identities.

They have been sending fake e-mails to Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) customers claiming their account has been temporarily suspended, said a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper.

The document says due to a multiple login attempt error it has been temporarily suspended, along with access to the Internet banking system.

The message, which claims to be from BBK's customer service department, also says customers' access to the online service be will be restricted if they fail to re-confirm their membership details.

It then requests the account holder to click on a link to initiate a verification process.

However, when clicked on the link an alert from the web provider appeared on screen warning against visiting the page as it might be a forgery.

"The page is very likely to have been designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information," it said.

"Entering any personal information on this page may result in identity theft or other fraud."

A BBK spokesman was unaware of anyone having been tricked by such requests for information.

But he said the bank would never ask its customers to disclose their personal details and urged customers to report such suspicious behaviour.

"At BBK, we will never ask our customers to disclose any of their account, ATM or card details via e-mail, text message or phone to us or any third party," he said.

"It is worth taking note of the fact that these fraudulent e-mails are not just targeted towards BBK customers, but other bank customers are also targets of such attempts.

"To fight the phenomenon of fraudulent e-mails BBK has ensured that appropriate communication is sent via text message to its entire customer base."

The spokesman said a pop-up message appears every time a customer logs on to the bank's website reminding them not to share their banking details with any third parties.

He said the bank also has the same message clearly displayed in its branches and on all of its ATMs.

The spokesman said if customers wished to update any account details they should only do so by logging on directly to the BBK website at www.bbkonline.com. Account holders who come across suspicious requests for private information are asked to report the matter to the bank on 17506045 and forward such e-mails to fraud@bbkonline.com before deleting them. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: banking | BBK | Fraud | Net |

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