Muscat: The Royal Oman Police has warned against falling prey to fraudulent practices by dealing with fake websites that are made to look identical to official government websites, through which victims are lured resulting in extraction of their personal and banking data as well as money by accessing their bank accounts.
The ROP has called on everyone to verify the authenticity and reliability of the websites and not to share any personal or banking information.
Phishing is a very common threat that net users face all around the world, and Oman, is no exception says a young Tech Entrepreneur. According to Hajid al Kindi, nowadays phishing schemes have become more creative and common. While cyber security as a sector is expected to grow in strength, public awareness is crucial, say the experts.
“Almost every month we see a new phishing scheme and the entire concept of phishing is that at least one in 100 people will fall for it and that is enough for online predators,” Al Kindi said.
In order to recognise phishing, or the fake websites individuals must verify the source of the information that they receive, for instance a bank will never text the customer on WhatsApp asking for an OTP number.
“Also another common scheme is when an individual displays a product for sale on OLX or Opensouq - there are schemes where individuals with non-Omani phone numbers give you an URL and the individual is then asked to enter their bank details,” he pointed out.
Al Kindi said many other schemes are conducted via phone calls by individuals who disguise and present themselves as private companies or government entities, so each person should ensure the following in order to protect themselves online. “If you believe a message is suspicious listen to the inner voice telling you not to fall for it; look out for any spelling mistakes in emails you get and also verify whether the email address has a business account.”
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