Qatar Warns Citizens and Residents Agaist Falling Prey to Cyber Crimes

Doha, August 19 (QNA) - The Ministry of the Interior has warned citizens and residents against falling prey to scams and fraud crimes committed through the internet and called on people to protect themselves by not responding to any middlemen who offer to pay irregularities on Hukoomi website for less than the value of the violation, or to buy discounted tickets. The ministry has explained that fraudulent individuals use various means to entrap their prey through fake or stolen credit cards, thus exposing people dealing with them to fraud and legal accountability. The ministry urged people to inform security authorities immediately by calling the telephone number (2347444), hotline (66815757) or sending an e-mail of the cyber crime investigation centre at ccccmoi.gov.qa. Head of the economic crimes at the Criminal Investigation Department Ali Hassan Al-Kubaisi said in a press statement that a number of electronic crimes have appeared on the scene recently, including fraud crimes which are committed illegally through the e-government website. In such incidents, a citizen or a resident contacts people through forums or social networking programmes whether inside the country or abroad and those people offer to deliver services such as payment of offenses charged against the person at the government or various services departments in exchange of half the value, thus tempting the citizen or the resident. The fraudster pays the value of the violation via the e-government by using stolen or forged credit cards and when the citizen or the resident inquires at the site of e-government it becomes clear that the violation has already been paid, so he sends the agreed amount to the fraudulent person, but when the electronic collection is made, it becomes evident that the credit card used in the payment is either stolen or forged, and thus the system rejects the payment and returns the offense again to the citizen or resident. He added that "the department has received a number of complaints from people who have fallen prey to similar fraud and this does not relieve them of legal accountability because they are partners in committing the crime. How can a citizen or a resident accept somehow to pay half the value of the violation registered against him to a government agency," Al-Kubaisi inquired, stressing that such an act is contrary to the law and both the accused and the prey shall be referred to the public prosecutor.(QNA)