Saudi Arabia ‘has one of world’s lowest bank fraud rates’

RIYADH: Bank fraud is low in the Kingdom compared to rising rates in other countries, Saudi Banks, the nation’s association of bankers, said on Thursday.
While money transfer fraud, ATM and online banking fraud have become a worldwide threat, prudent banking measures meant the country had one of the world’s least-registered rates of financial fraud, a Saudi Banks spokesman said.
Talat Zaki Hafiz, the secretary-general of the media and banking awareness committee for Saudi Banks, was speaking at the launch in Riyadh of the ninth public awareness campaign, “Mo_Alaina”, about the risks of financial and banking fraud.
“This campaign is basically aimed at educating the public about the techniques of banking fraud, how to deal with it and avoid it by being cautious while using an ATM or making online transactions,” he said.
“In doing this we are not trying to scare people, but just alerting them to banking fraud. We have had some cases reported in the Kingdom which we need to avoid, for example an unknown person asking to transfer money to an unidentified account saying he has no account.” 
“If you take the number of total transactions taking place on a daily or a yearly basis, the number in the Kingdom is in the acceptable range, especially if you compare it to the global standard,” he said.
Hafiz said that financial fraud was on the rise and had become a costly burden to the world economy. In 2016, financial fraud cost companies around the world 5 percent of their annual revenue — $6.3 billion annually.
Ibrahim Saad Abu Muti, head of the banking information and awareness-raising team at Saudi Banks, said that this year’s campaign will deal with fake and unlicensed investments.