Saudi Banks Launch Campaign to Raise Awareness on New Financial Fraud Methods

The Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee has launched an awareness campaign tackling the latest fraud methods. 
The Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee has launched an awareness campaign tackling the latest fraud methods. 
TT

Saudi Banks Launch Campaign to Raise Awareness on New Financial Fraud Methods

The Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee has launched an awareness campaign tackling the latest fraud methods. 
The Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee has launched an awareness campaign tackling the latest fraud methods. 

The Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee has launched an awareness campaign tackling the latest fraud methods.

The initiative, "Not normal", aims to expose new methods of financial fraud that exploit technological and social advances.

The initiative focuses on the most common fraud methods, which include impersonating a bank employee, defrauding through anonymous calls and exploiting people by demanding their banking or personal information, and defrauding customers through fake online stores and phishing.

The initiative aims to expose fraud when investing in digital currencies with unknown people or companies.

It targets emotional fraud when people are exploited through a friend request on social media. People can also be deceived through lucrative job offers that sound too good to be true.

The committee warned people to be careful. It advised them against answering telephone calls from unknown numbers where the caller asks for bank details. People must be wary of fake ads and suspicious messages. They must ignore text messages and emails from unknown senders and delete them immediately.

It called on bank customers to protect their accounts and funds by strictly dealing with official authorities.

It stressed the importance of protecting their personal information, bank data and passwords and pin numbers. Moreover, customers must avoid accepting requests for assistance from strangers when using an ATM.

Customers were advised to check the credibility of online shopping websites and travelers were urged to change the password of their bank cards periodically, especially when returning from travel.

Computers must be protected with virus and malware protection programs.



China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
TT

China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China announced Friday that it would expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy.
Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries, The Associated Press reported.
China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year.
The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.
For the three months from July through September this year, China recorded 8.2 million entries by foreigners, of which 4.9 million were visa-free, the official Xinhua News Agency said, quoting a Foreign Ministry consular official.