File photo used for representation only.
The State of Qatar has been making outstanding efforts regionally and at the global level in combating cybercrimes. However, to confront the surge of cybercrime, the cooperation of all civil society institutions is necessary.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI), represented by the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation Economic & Cyber Crimes Combating Department, has cautioned against responding to text messages, e-mails and phone calls that claim to be from certain well-known institutions.
Speaking yesterday in a virtual awareness seminar on “Financial and Cyber Crimes and Prevention Methods,” Lt. Ahmed Hamad Ahmed Hassan Al Thani, Awareness Officer, Economic and Cyber Crimes Prevention
Department at the Ministry of Interior (MoI), said perpetrators are constantly seeking new ways to circumvent policies and procedures set up by governments.
He also said Qatar has established a solid legislative basis for combating cybercrime and has established specialised and efficient bodies to achieve and ensure the prosecution of offenders.
“Cybercrime has become one of the crimes that threaten not only the individuals but also various state institutions,” Lt. Al Thani said.
“The fraudsters use what is called ‘social engineering,’ where they exploit the country’s social conditions to defraud. As most people speak about vaccination and use Ehteraz, and the Metrash2 app, the fraudsters are sending messages on behalf of these entities acting as customer care agents or designated officials to fix a particular problem. However, they make calls and send messages with the aim of stealing bank card data,” he added.
Lt. Al Thani has advised people not to respond to the perpetrators. Also, they should block them from all communication networking channels.
“When the crime occurs, we see that the speed of reporting is an important factor in the success of the evidence-gathering process, as digital evidence is subject to loss and manipulation,” he added.
Regarding the punishment to criminals, he said the penalty for threatening or blackmailing a person is three years imprisonment and a fine of QR100,000.
Lt. Al Thani emphasized that there is a great duty on all public and private institutions to play their role in awareness and education.
More than 400 people from different communities and institutions attended the virtual webinar.
